Lithuania calls for EU sanctions on Russia for Navaln’s arrest



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“Lithuania will immediately raise the issue of a possible European Union response and new sanctions against Russia for the arrest and prosecution of A. Navalnas,” the minister said in a press release.

It also issued a joint statement with its Latvian and Estonian counterparts, calling on the EU to “consider introducing restrictive measures.”

The report issued by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry emphasizes that Russia’s decision to detain A. Navalnas goes beyond the principles of a civilized state governed by the rule of law and human rights enshrined by the Council of Europe.

“The ministry regards these actions by the Russian police authorities as part of the official campaign of persecution and destruction of A. Navaln initiated by Moscow. It seems that A. Navalnas, who dared to defy the government, made another inexcusable mistake in the eyes Moscow – survived and even more – announced who attacked him, “the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė also condemned the arrest of A. Navalnas

“The gruesome arrest of Russian opposition leader A. Navaln as soon as he returns home is just another proof of the Kremlin’s efforts to systematically abuse human rights and democratic freedoms. Western democracies must not tolerate this,” he wrote G. Nausėda on Twitter.

“If anyone still had illusions about the common sense of the Kremlin, it should have disappeared now that everyone is watching the Sheremetyevo broadcast,” wrote I. Šimonytė on Twitter.

The Russian Prison Service has reported that Mr. Navaln has been detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport for violating the terms of a probation sentence imposed in a 2014 fraud case.

According to the flight plan, the plane that had flown from Germany was supposed to land at Vnukov Airport, which was packed with Navaln supporters and the media, but the plane was headed for Sheremetyevo International Airport.

Mr. Navaln was treated in Germany for several months after an attempt to poison him. Navaln says he tried to poison him on the orders of Russian FSB president Vladimir Putin.

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