The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and European Council’s president Charles Michel on Sunday condemned the Russian authorities to hold Alexei Navalny under arrest. Navalny –anti-corruption campaigner and Kremlin critic– was arrested in Moscow upon his arrival from Berlin, AFP reports.
The feud between Moscow and other European political alliances has taken another leap as Alexei Navalny was arrested as soon as he landed in Russia.
The EU’s foreign policy chief echoed the call for Navalny to be freed following his arrest, which came as the anti-corruption campaigner returned to Moscow for the first time since his poisoning in August.
“Russian authorities must respect Alexei Navalny’s rights and release him immediately. Politicisation of the judiciary is unacceptable,” Borrell tweeted.
European Council president Charles Michel also opposed the detention of Navalny, urging the Russian authorities to free him after he was arrested at a Moscow airport.
“The detainment of Alexei Navalny upon arrival in Moscow is unacceptable. I call on Russian authorities to immediately release him,” Michel wrote on Twitter.
French foreign ministry too called for the release of Navalny in a statement: “France notes the arrest of Mr Alexei Navalny in Russia with very strong concern.”
“Along with its European partners, it is following his situation with the greatest vigilance and calls for his immediate release.”
The statement echoed calls for Navalny’s release from President-elect Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan.
“Mr Navalny should be immediately released, and the perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable,” Sullivan tweeted.
“The Kremlin’s attacks on Mr Navalny are not just a violation of human rights, but an affront to the Russian people who want their voices heard.”
Navalny 44, spent four months in Berlin, recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Western experts concluded he was poisoned with Soviet-designed nerve toxin Novichok. The Kremlin denies any involvement in the attack.
The poisoning on EU soil fuelled tensions between the bloc and its eastern neighbour. In December, Germany was hit with what it called ‘unjustified’ tit-for-tat sanctions by Russia over penalties imposed by the EU following the poisoning.
Moscow issued travel bans against several EU representatives after Brussels imposed sanctions on six Russian officials over the poisoning. Figures close to the Kremlin feature prominently on the list of the six, who the EU said were responsible in some way for the poisoning of Navalny due to the functions they held.
