Jailed opposition leader in Russia wins top EU prize
BRUSSELS >> Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who narrowly survived a poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin, was awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize Wednesday in a clear slap at President Vladimir Putin.
In awarding the Sakharov Prize to Navalny, the European Parliament praised his “immense personal bravery.” The 45-year-old activist fell ill from a nerve agent poisoning last year and recuperated in Germany, then was promptly arrested upon his return to Moscow and later imprisoned.
“He has campaigned consistently against the corruption of Vladimir Putin’s regime, and through his social media accounts and political campaigns, Navalny has helped expose abuses and mobilize the support of millions of people across Russia. For this, he was poisoned and thrown in jail,” parliament President David Sassoli in a statement.
Sassoli called for the immediate
release of Navalny, who is Putin’s biggest domestic foe.
There was no immediate reaction to the award from the Kremlin, which denies any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning.
The recognition of Navalny will further sour relations between the 27-nation bloc and Russia. These ties have been on the decline for years, especially following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The impact reverberated beyond
the EU as well.
Days after Russia suspended its mission at NATO and ordered the closure of the alliance’s office in Moscow in retaliation for NATO’s expulsion of Russian diplomats, the organization’s chief said he embraced the news.
“I welcome the fact that a strong voice ... in Russia has been awarded this prize,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the prize also was a call for “his unconditional release from prison” and to have an international investigation into it.