Aleksei Navalny is led from a police station after his arrest in Moscow. Photo:EPA
The World Daily | News Desk FEBRUARY 8th 2021
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, was under the fire of criticism after last week's visit to Moscow. There are voices that the Spaniard should resign. “…Not just that Russia makes a fool of the EU but that we let it happen,” Guy Verhofstadt, MEP and former Belgian prime minister, wrote on Twitter. According to unofficial information, the matter is to be raised during the Wednesday meeting of the ambassadors of the member states in Brussels. Borrell, however, has “full support” from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said a spokesman for the European Commission.
During his visit to Moscow on Saturday, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, had to deal with a series of affronts on the part of the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov.
Prior to a joint press conference with Lavrov on Friday, the Spaniard warned Russian hosts that the imprisonment of opposition activist Alexei Navalny has brought EU-Russia relations to a very “low level”. A moment later, however, he himself questioned this message, stating that no EU member state has proposed additional sanctions against Russia. Lavrov used the conference to accuse the West of lying about Navalny's poisoning attempt in front of Borrell, defining the European Union as an “unreliable partner” and attacking the United States. The head of EU diplomacy listened silently to the insinuations of the Russian minister.
Moreover, just before the press conference, Kremlin representatives announced the decision to expel three diplomats from EU countries - Germany, Poland and Sweden - for allegedly participating in unsanctioned rallies of support for Navalny on 23 January. Western diplomats have no doubt that this was intended to further humiliate Borrell and the EU, which the Spaniard represents. As a result, the visit was regarded by many commentators as a failure of the head of EU diplomacy.
“The aggressively arranged press conference and the expulsion of three EU diplomats during my visit indicate that the Russian authorities did not want to use this opportunity for a more constructive dialogue with the EU. (...) As an EU, we will have to draw consequences, think carefully about the direction we want to show our relations with Russia, and to follow determination,” Borrell wrote after his visit to the website of the European External Action Service.
“…Not just that Russia makes a fool of the EU but we let it happen.”
The head of EU diplomacy is also strongly criticized by Western politicians and diplomats. Some believe the Spaniard should resign.
“It's just terrifying,” said Guy Verhofstadt, MEP and former Belgian prime minister who attacked Borrell for not being prepared for the visit. “Russia is not only making a fool of the EU, but we are allowing it. Borrell should not have gone to Moscow without a message about the strength of the EU backed by a sanction mandate.”
