SOUTH Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman has backed the government’s actions amid the ‘horrendous and unprovoked’ invasion of Ukraine by Russia today (February 24).

Mr Norman said he ‘wholeheartedly’ supports the government’s promise to impose sanctions on Russia, after Russian forces launched a military invasion of Ukraine in the early hours of this morning after weeks of growing tensions.

And in standing behind Ukraine, Mr Norman said the country is ‘standing up for the most fundamental principle of freedom’.

This afternoon Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK and allies will launch a “massive package” of sanctions to “hobble” Russia’s economy.

Mr Johnson is due to outline the further economic sanctions against Russia in the Commons later today.

“Many years ago I ran an educational project giving away brand new medical textbooks to doctors across Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain,” Mr Norman told the Gazette. “So I recall very vividly the bleakness and oppression of life under the communism imposed by the Soviet Union.

“In standing behind Ukraine against this horrendous and unprovoked Russian invasion, we are not only supporting a sovereign, free and independent European state. We are standing up for the most fundamental principle of freedom: that people should be able to mix, to speak, to worship, to be educated, to bring up their families and to prosper as they see fit under the rule of law, without threat or tyranny.

“So I wholeheartedly support the Government in building international alliances against Russia, imposing sanctions, and taking whatever other measures may be required to make clear that this crime of aggression will not go unpunished and uncorrected.”