As expected, Alexei Navalny’s case seriously disrupted relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation. The alleged “poisoning” of opposition leader Alexei Navalny on August 20 in Tomsk (Siberia) is similar to the assassination of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for Britain’s intelligence services, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal. the city of Salisbury, England. Russia’s political history is dotted with the well-colored imperishable picture.
Navalny is a Russian opposition politician and anti-corruption activist. He became internationally prominent by organizing demonstrations and running for political office to advocate anti-corruption reforms in Russia. As a citizen, he has the fundamental right to freedom of expression and to associate with social and political groups. But his activities have angered officials and become most hated politicians. He has been detained several times by Russian authorities.
Now Navalny, who is “allegedly poisoned” in August, is a crucial factor shaping the relationship between the West and the European Union and Russia. Sanctions are punitive measures against Russia. When he was first treated at a Russian hospital in Omsk, doctors claimed there were no traces of poison in his body, a claim that Russian authorities continue to support.
Specialist laboratories in France and Sweden have confirmed that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by Soviet nerve agent Novichok, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in mid-September, confirming that the Hague-based Chemical Weapons Organization had also received samples and taken action. to test them at their reference laboratories.
According to Seibert, the European Union summit will take place on 24-25 September. The world would look for what measures would be taken collectively with regard to Navalny and against Russia.
On September 17, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told local media that there was another series of anti-Russian sanctions initiated by the West in the situation involving Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, all of which were intended to strike at Russian relations. and the European Union.
On 15 September, during its session, the European Union planned to create a global regime that sanctioned human rights violations around the world and the intention to name it after Alexey Navalny. Russia’s Foreign Ministry believes it will undermine the fundamental principles of international law and undermines the powers of the UN Security Council through endless illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by Brussels and Washington.
As for whether it would be advisable to name this sanctions regime after Alexei Navalny, it saw “this exclusively as a covert attempt to give a clear anti-Russia tone to the new EU restrictions. At the same time, Berlin continues to brush off proposals. To work together We hope that common sense will prevail in the European Union and our partners will refrain from the arbitrary practice of allocating debt and in the future will draw conclusions based on real and confirmed facts. “
But that Moscow is ready to strike back at EU sanctions. The local newspaper Izvestia also wrote that Russia promises revenge on potential EU sanctions. Although the European Union is trying to elbow Russia from the gas market, it is unlikely that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will be abandoned after the incident with the Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, who quotes sources in the Russian Federation Council (Upper House).
The resolution approved by the European Parliament (EP) emphasizes the need for an international inquiry into the alleged poisoning of Navalny with a toxic substance of the Novichok type. MEPs called for Nord Stream 2 to be shut down and sanctions imposed on Russia. At the same time, Moscow calls on Berlin to cooperate in the investigation of what happened to Navalny. If the EU imposes sanctions on Russia, Moscow can give a proper answer, Russian MPs told the newspaper.
Similarly, the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Chepa, told Izvestia that in the event of any real anti-Russian sanctions, Russia could provide a fair response. For example, if the European Union approves personal restrictions and a list of sanctions, Moscow will do the same.
“Of course we will answer. However, this will affect both our economy and the economy of Germany and the European Union. No one will win here. However, there may be a blacklist that could include, for example, the MPs who demanded anti-Russian sanctions or the temporary suspension of Nord Stream. 2, said the MEP, stressing that Moscow will only respond again to the European Union in the face of real sanctions against Russia.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote that the European Union will loosen the legal mechanism for new sanctions against Russia. It said that the European Commission was working to expand its legal instruments, which would make it possible to impose personal sanctions on human rights violators in various countries and to include Russia among them. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced plans to adopt Europe’s version of the Magnitsky Act and proposed that the mechanism for approving sanctions be adapted in such a way that it does not require the support of all EU Member States.
According to Kommersant, this amendment does not allow Moscow to count on friendly European countries that have called on the European Union’s allies not to impose harsh sanctions on Russia, if adopted. According to von der Leyen, the proposals for a European “Magnitsky Act” will be ready soon. She explained that the European Union should be able to react clearly and quickly to what is happening anywhere, whether in Hong Kong, Moscow or Minsk.
The German Foreign Relations Council does not believe that the European Union will soon be able to agree on a comprehensive sanctions package against Russia. Rather, one can expect an agreement on a blacklist similar to the “Magnitsky list”. According to experts, in the case of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Germany and the European Union would rather allow the project to be implemented in its entirety and then introduce some measures to restrict or ban the transport of gas through the pipeline.
The European Union and Russia have a Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in 2011 but later challenged after the annexation of Crimea and the war in the Donbass. Russia has five Member States: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland share their borders. Conditions are determined by EU members on a bilateral basis, but all members adopt common or collective policies towards the Russian Federation.
Source: sn.dk