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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
The relationship between the EU and Russia is becoming increasingly tense. The EU countries have announced that they will prepare sanctions against Moscow in the Navalny case. Chancellor Lavrov has now asked to end the talks with the West.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the EU against a temporary halt to the dialogue in view of the tensions in the case of the Kremlin’s poisoned opponent Alexei Navalny. Politicians responsible for foreign policy in the EU do not understand the need for a conversation characterized by mutual respect, Lavrov said, according to the Interfax agency, in an expert forum.
“Maybe we should stop talking to them for a while, especially when (EU Commission President) Ursula von der Leyen announces that a geopolitical partnership will not work with the current Russian apparatus,” Lavrov said.
According to the Moscow Foreign Ministry, Lavrov also spoke with EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell about the Navalny case on Tuesday. It was unclear whether the EU wanted to have anything to do with Russia at all, he said in Moscow.
Russia mistakenly sees itself in the international pillory over the Navalny poisoning. The 44-year-old is said to have been killed on August 20 with a nerve agent from the Novichok group, which is banned by the chemical weapons ban. The critic of the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was in a coma for weeks. Germany demands that Russia solve the crime. Russia, on the other hand, demands proof of poisoning. Russia faces EU sanctions for violating the chemical weapons ban.
