Alex Salmond's Alba party asks West to think about 'Russia's security interests' in Ukrainian crisis

Mr Salmond, who now works for a Kremlin-funded TV channel, was last week labelled “an embarrassment to our nation” for his continued ties to Russia during the crisis.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats said being President Vladimir Putin’s “useful idiot” may have enriched Mr Salmond, but said no former first minister should “sink so low”.

During last year's Holyrood election campaign, Mr Salmond repeatedly refused to say if he believed Russia was behind the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury in 2018.

Last week, as 100,000 Russian troops encircled Ukraine, Alba criticised the US and UK for their “determined hyping” of the prospect of war despite a “distinct lack of evidence”.

MP Neale Hanvey said: “I know that many have not forgotten the catastrophic consequences of the dodgy dossier that took us to war in Iraq. We must not repeat such mistakes.” 

On Minday night, President Putin officially recognised two breakaway provinces in eastern Ukraine whioch have been under the control of Russian separatists since 2014.

He then ordered in Russian troops under he guise of peacekeeping, triggering global condemnation and warnings of stinging sanctions from the West. 

Mr Hanvey today said Alba condemed “the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, calling Russian recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent republics “a serious breach of the Minsk protocols” meant to ensure peace in the region.

“This is a moment for cool heads and careful words if we are to avoid a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse.  We need an intensification of diplomatic efforts, dialogue and restraint. 

“A hot war in Europe could quickly spiral with catastrophic consequences stretching far beyond the economy.” 

He then went on to consider Russia’s complaints.   

“The task is, as it has always been, how to ensure respect for Ukraine’s rights as an independent country including the recognition of the rights of the Russian speaking minority as stated in the Minsk accords.  

"All of which has to be reconciled with Russia’s own security interests. 

“That requires our acceptance that assurances were offered in the 1990s about NATO expansion eastward which have not been kept.

“The emphasis at this critical moment should be on de-escalation not escalation. 

“At the end of the day conflict can only be resolved through dialogue and negotiation.”

The Scottish Greens said it was “utterly unacceptable” for Russia to use force in Ukraine.

In the Commons, SNP defence spokesperson Stewart Malcolm McDonald said the RT channel on which Mr Salmond has a weekly show was a “disinformation network”.

The Glasgow South MP said such channels were critical in trying both to justify and maintain Russia’s aggression.

He asked Boris Johnson: “For how much longer will we continue in this country to pretend that outfits like RT are some kind of benign equivalent to the World Service or France24? 

“They’re not. It’s time they went.”

The Prime Minister replied: “I think his point will be widely shared, but we have an independent regulator of the media, we don’t live in a country where poliiticians can close down media outlets. It is up to [the broadcasting regulator] Ofcom to rule.”  

Scottish Liberal Demcorat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "It is absolutely shambolic that a former First Minister and current party leader has a show on RT, a network that exists to parrot Putin's soundbites. 

"Alex Salmond is an ​embarrassment not just to the high office he once served but to the whole of Scotland. All party leaders should join me in making clear that our parliamentarians will not lend legitimacy to this propaganda broadcaster.

"I had hoped that Scottish MPs would be able to speak with one voice in calling out the invasion of Ukraine as an unjustified act of aggression.

"Sadly the Alba party seem more concerned with the interests of the Russian military machine than they do the people of Ukraine who just want to live in peace."