Last week I was in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe on Parliamentary Assembly duty. I was finally able to deliver a speech on Gaza (I never seem to get called in Westminster!)

I also delivered a speech about the return of mining back to Cornwall in a debate about a just transition to renewable energy. The UK delegation then met the opposition delegation from Georgia - or what is left of them, after six of their colleagues were rounded up and thrown in prison over the last four weeks.

I really do have the upmost respect for these brave men and women who come to Strasbourg to tell us about the repression of the Putin-backed government knowing that, in doing so, they are putting their own freedom and perhaps their own lives at risk. They do it because they believe in democracy and free speech. There were about five opposition parties in Georgia from all political backgrounds, but they sat down at one table with us Parliamentary delegates and spoke to us with one united voice. They are very impressive people, and as a result, I will not stop pushing our government to introduce more stringent sanctions against the oppressive regime, which rigged the parliamentary elections last year.

But, for all the stoicism of the Georgian opposition, that was not the highlight of my week in Strasbourg. There was only one winner there: the address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He had come to Strasbourg to sign an agreement to set up a Special Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Whatever Putin thinks he is doing now, he needs to know that when the fighting stops, international justice will catch up with him. And anyone who thinks we should appease Putin, just walk away and abandon to Putin the likes of Georgia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Albania or even Poland, needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

Putin’s tentacles reach far across western Europe already, including the UK. But despite the demands of hours of travel (he’d had meetings in Brussels in the morning) Zelenskyy gave a rabble-rousing speech and then asked a series of off-the-cuff questions with sensitivity, emotion, but a steely determination and will to win. After several standing ovations, you just couldn’t have been anything but impressed.

Whatever this man lacks in physical stature (he’s quite short) he stands like a colossus across Eastern Europe and holds back the might of the Russian army. He’s a pretty remarkable war leader. So impressed was one of the Albanian MPs that he thanked Zelenskyy for keeping the Russians at bay, as he knew that if the Russians took Ukraine, there is no way the neighbouring Albanians would be able to stop them taking their country too. At the end of the week we also met a delegation from the Russian opposition – a disparate group of exiles, some of whom have previously been jailed and some in solitary confinement, simply for daring to question Putin.

They were a regrettable reminder of what will happen if you appease Putin. They were asking for our support and we will help these brave souls.