My Lords, I declare my interest as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the western Balkans. I very much support the Minister. As a frequent visitor to the region, I assure noble Lords that the United Kingdom’s role there is appreciated; we just do not always advertise it on Twitter.
We should thank our allies in NATO for keeping the peace for over 20 years. The quality of our contribution remains important. It is critical now to stop the violence and to de-escalate. We continue to support normalisation between Kosovo and Serbia, which takes many forms, and again we call for the Kosovo Serbs to be readmitted into security structures, particularly the police.
We must break the cycle of violence in the Balkans. We need to be alert, as a noble Lord has said, to the risk posed by Russia, exploiting the region as a second front through warfare by other means.