Orkney and Shetland MP says Russia travel ban is ‘badge of honour’

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael says he will treat a new ban from visiting Russia as a “badge of honour”.

The Lib Dem veteran is among four Scottish MPs targeted by the Kremlin today.

And Mr Carmichael told The Press and Journal the sanction will not stop him speaking out about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to travel there anytime soon,” he said.

“On one view, it’s nice to know they hear the criticism, even if they don’t like it.

“I wear this ban as a badge of honour.”

Mr Carmichael is among 21 UK politicians accused of “fabricating anti-Russian narratives” by the Kremlin.

SNP MP Stephen Gethins is on the “stop list”, along with Labour MPs Blair McDougall and Johanna Baxter.

“Those of us in the West who care about human rights have the obligation to challenge Putin at every turn,” Mr Carmichael said.

“That’s not going to change.”

The Lib Dem MP thought he had already been banned from entering Russia years ago.

He told the Press and Journal he has no idea why the sanctions have come more than three years after Mr Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

‘Diseased minds in the Kremlin’

In 2022, Mr Carmichael backed the decision to block a Russian oil tanker from docking in Orkney.

“You don’t know how the diseased minds in the Kremlin actually work,” he said.

At the last Westminster election, the rival SNP candidate hoping to unseat Mr Carmichael in Orkney and Shetland became embroiled in a pro-Russia row.

Robert Leslie shared doubts over whether the Kremlin was behind the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.

At the time, Mr Carmichael said his rival’s views gave him “cause for concern”.