EU says sanctions are only one answer to Navalny detention, diplomacy key

The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday he was keen to visit Moscow to discuss the detention of poisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny, and that sanctions on Russia over the issue were not the only possible response. "We are not against pressure, but pressure has to be graduated," Josep Borrell told Reuters in an interview.


Reuters | Updated: 19-01-2021 19:31 IST | Created: 19-01-2021 19:31 IST
EU says sanctions are only one answer to Navalny detention, diplomacy key

The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday he was keen to visit Moscow to discuss the detention of poisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny, and that sanctions on Russia over the issue were not the only possible response.

"We are not against pressure, but pressure has to be graduated," Josep Borrell told Reuters in an interview. "There have been sanctions, there can be more sanctions. But sanctions by themselves is not a policy. Sanctions is a tool, and apart from sanctioning, you have to continue reaching out and discussing and expressing your point of view."

Borrell said he had an open invitation from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to visit Moscow, and the current circumstances made such a trip "more necessary than ever". The 27-nation EU already has economic sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine that target the Russian energy, financial and arms sectors.

In October, the EU imposed sanctions on Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin in response to Navalny's poisoning. Navalny says Putin was behind his poisoning last August, a version that the Kremlin rejects. The Kremlin says it has seen no evidence that Navalny was poisoned and that it will not heed calls by some Western countries for sanctions over Navalny's detention because his case is a domestic matter.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia want the EU to impose further sanctions following Navalny's detention on Sunday after he returned to Russia from Germany for the first time since he was poisoned with what German military tests showed was a military-grade nerve agent. The three Baltic states want EU foreign ministers to discuss possible sanctions at a scheduled meeting next Monday.

Several other member states have warned against engaging too closely with Russia since its seizure of Crimea. But Borrell said he favoured direct diplomacy with Moscow.

"Sanctions is a matter that member states will put on the table. For the time being no one has done it," he said. "But at the same time ... international politics is not a matter of blaming, it is a matter of looking for solutions."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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