MOSCOW (AP) – Russia said on Friday it was expelling diplomats from Sweden, Poland and Germany, accusing them of attending a rally in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny as international tensions escalated due to prison of the most prominent enemy of the Kremlin.
The announcement came when European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Navalny’s treatment represented “a low point” in relations between Brussels. And Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Swedish and Polish diplomats in St. Petersburg and a German diplomat in Moscow of participating in rallies it called “illegal” on January 23. Tens of thousands of people across Russia took to the streets that day to protest Navalny’s arrest.
Diplomats were declared a “persona non grata” and forced to leave Russia “soon,” according to a ministry statement.
European officials strongly denounced this measure.
Germany said its diplomat was doing his duty following the facts and warned Moscow that his action would not go unanswered, summoning the Russian ambassador.
“We consider this expulsion to be unjustified and we believe it is another facet of things that can be seen in Russia at the moment and that are quite far from the rule of law,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin after a video conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron expressed solidarity with Germany, Poland and Sweden and condemned “in stronger terms” the expulsions and what happened to Navalny “from beginning to end.”
Sweden said it “considers this to be completely unjustified, which we have also conveyed to the Russian side,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mats Samuelsson said in a statement to The Associated Press. Stockholm “strongly rejects Russian claims that the diplomat took part in a demonstration in Russia” and “reserves the right to take appropriate action in response,” he said.
Poland also warned Moscow that the measure would further worsen relations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the expulsion in a tweet: “This arbitrary and unjustified act is Russia’s last way out of its international obligations.” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also said on Twitter that expelling diplomats “for simply doing their job is a crude attempt to distract from Russia’s target against opposition leaders, protesters and journalists.”
Speaking about the start of his talks with Lavrov, Borrell said that “our relations are under strong tension and the Navalny case is a low point of our relations.”
Borell then said he had conveyed his concerns about Navalny prison and the arrests of thousands of people who had gathered on his behalf. The EU official said he also communicated the bloc’s support for the release of Navalny and the August poisoning investigation, but added that there were no proposals for additional sanctions against Russia by the EU in this moment.
Merkel said “we reserve the right to continue sanctions,” but noted that Navalny’s situation should not affect the North Stream 2 pipeline under construction to deliver more Russian natural gas to Germany.
Lavrov again accused European officials of refusing to share evidence of the poisoning. The Kremlin has said it will not listen to Western criticism of Navalny’s sentence and police actions against his supporters.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corruption investigator and a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nervous breakdown blamed on the Kremlin. . Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.
On Tuesday, a Moscow court ruled that in Germany Navalny violated the parole conditions of his suspended sentence from a 2014 money laundering conviction and ordered him to serve two years and eight months in prison. The ruling sparked international outrage.
In mass protests across Russia’s eleven time zones for two weekends in a row, many people chanted slogans against Putin in the biggest show of discontent in recent years. Thousands were arrested. Several close allies of Navalny face criminal charges and are under house arrest, and many of their associates were sentenced to short prison terms.
Navalny strategist Leonid Volkov argued on Thursday that trying to hold rallies every weekend would only lead to many more arrests and exhausted participants and said protests should be stopped until spring after reaching the maximum.
Instead, he urged supporters to focus on challenging Kremlin-backed candidates in the September parliamentary elections and securing new Western sanctions against Russia for pushing for Navalny’s release. He said Navalny’s team would try to make sure that “all world leaders would discuss nothing more than Navalny’s release with Putin.”
On Friday, however, another Navalny ally, Vladimir Milov, expressed disappointment over Borrell’s visit to Moscow. He called it a “disastrously weak visit” and said Lavrov “used it as a decoration for lectures in Europe on” international law. “
“Maybe he’ll get some shots against Sputink V as a reward,” Milov tweeted, referring to Borrell’s praise. of the coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia.
Meanwhile, Navalny returned to court for another trial, this time accused of defaming a World War II veteran featured in a pro-Kremlin video that Navalny denounced on social media last year.
A criminal investigation was opened after Navalny assassinated people featured in a video promoting constitutional amendments last year that allowed for an extension of Putin’s government. Navalny called the people in the video “corrupt creatures,” “unconscious people,” and “traitors.”
Russian authorities claimed that Navalny’s comments “denigrate (honor and dignity)” of Ignat Artemenko, the veteran featured in the video.
If convicted, Navalny faces a fine or community service. He has denied the accusation and refused to file a lawsuit on Friday, calling the trial a “public relations process” with the goal of belittling it.
“The Kremlin needs headlines (say) Navalny slandered a veteran,” he said.
Artemenko, 94, attended the hearing by teleconference, saying he was distressed by Navalny’s comments and apologized publicly.
Navalny accused Artemenko’s family of exploiting the fragile man for his own benefit, alleging that the case was invented and that the evidence was falsified.
“The judge should burn you in hell and you’re selling your grandfather,” Navalny said, while Artemenko’s grandson testified.
The hearing was finally postponed until February 12th.
___
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Matthew Lee in Washington, and Jill Lawless in London collaborated.