EU-Russia meeting on, despite pressure
Will use session to push for Putin critic’s release, European envoy says
BRUSSELS — Despite pressure from some European Union countries Monday to sanction Russia further after the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and thousands of his supporters, the bloc’s top foreign policy official will go ahead with a visit to Moscow early next month and meet with Russian officials first.
The official, Josep Borrell Fontelles, will press the Russian government to release Navalny, according to diplomats in Brussels, and if not, new sanctions are possible. The decision came during a rare in-person meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers in Brussels.
Borrell’s trip to meet with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is expected after Feb. 2, when Navalny faces a court hearing that could send him to prison for several years. His supporters have called for people to keep up the pressure, and specifically to take to the streets again Sunday, two days before the hearing.
Navalny strategist Leonid Volkov tweeted Monday for more demonstrations Sunday in “all Russian cities. … For Navalny’s freedom. For our freedom. For justice.”
In a news conference, Borrell said the foreign ministers had condemned the Russian crackdown on Navalny and his supporters and called for their release. He said he would be pleased to meet Navalny, and his situation would be a topic of discussion during his visit, but the trip was primarily to discuss strategic relations with Russia before a summit of European leaders in March.
European leaders are “ready to react” and to act “according to circumstances,” Borrell said. While the foreign ministers differed about how to respond to Moscow, there were no concrete proposals made, so there was no need to make decisions now, he said.
Tens of thousands of Russians rallied for Navalny in the streets of more than 100 Russian cities Saturday in the biggest demonstrations the country had seen since at least 2017. Several thousand were arrested and sometimes beaten, bringing protests from the new Biden administration as well as European countries.
The European diplomats discussed imposing fresh sanctions on Russia on Monday after pressure from several capitals for a tough line, but decided to wait to see what happens to Navalny and the outcome of Borrell’s visit.
In October, the European Union imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute over the poisoning of Navalny in August with Novichok, a deadly nerve agent created in Russia during the Soviet era.
In the latest sign of how Navalny’s campaign has shaken the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday took the unusual step of responding personally. He denied an extensive report by Navalny and his team that was released last week about the president’s purported “palace” on the
Black Sea. The video has been viewed more than 86 million times on YouTube, underscoring the Kremlin’s vulnerability on the internet, which is mostly uncensored in Russia.
“Nothing that is described as my property there ever belonged to me or my close relatives, and never did,” Putin said in a televised video conference with university students. The video alleged that the vast, lavish property, said to include vineyards and an underground hockey rink, was controlled by Putin friends and close associates who were holding it for him.
Asked about Saturday’s protests, Putin said “all people have the right to express their point of view within limits, outlined by law.” He referenced the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and said those taking part in it were facing “between 15 and 25 years, as if for domestic terrorism.”
“They also came out with political slogans. But outside the law. Why should everything outside the law be allowed here? No,” Putin said.
The European diplomats discussed imposing fresh sanctions on Russia on Monday after pressure from several capitals for a tough line, but decided to wait to see what happens to Navalny and the outcome of Borrell’s visit.