EU official will meet with Russia on Kremlin critic

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 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 they don’t, new sanctions are possible. The decision came during a rare in-person meeting of the EU’s 27 foreign ministers here.