Sunday meeting in Brussels between Navalny advisers and European Union ministers

The Chancellor of Lithuania announced on Friday that the foreign ministers of 12 European Union countries will meet on Sunday in Brussels with two advisers of the Russian opposition Alexei Navalny. The meeting will take place before the ministerial meeting of the 27 countries scheduled for next Monday to discuss possible new sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia.
“We need information on the real situation of the opponents of the regime in Russia,” Minister Gabrielios Landsberg told AFP. He added that his country “took the initiative to organize a meeting in Brussels with Russian opposition figures” because it is better to collect information directly from the source.The meeting will be attended by Leonid Volkov, head of the Navalny regional network, based in Lithuania, and Ivan Gdanov, a close associate of Navalny.
On February 9, European Union Chancellor Josep Borrell recommended the imposition of new sanctions following the insult to which he was subjected during his visit to Moscow last week, during which three European diplomats were expelled. His visit was to be dedicated to the Navalny case, but the Russian authorities rejected the request of European leaders to release the imprisoned dissident. He will present proposals to European foreign ministers to impose sanctions during their meeting in Brussels on Monday.
Navalny’s supporters want the European Union to punish the ruling elite they accuse of protecting Russian President Vladimir Putin and supporting his regime financially.
Relations between the European Union and Russia, already strained after Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea in 2014 and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, deteriorated further, with Navalny’s arrest and sentencing. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison on his return last month to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after trying to poison him last summer.