Borrell bites the bullet after disastrous Moscow
trip
By
Alexandra Brzozowski | EURACTIV.com 8 Feb 2021
After a
defeating trip to Moscow, EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Sunday (7
February) tried to explain and justify his controversial trip to Moscow but
admitted that relations between the EU and Russia have hit rock bottom.
Borrell’s
controversial visit to Moscow, which ended on Saturday, had raised eyebrows
among EU diplomats and received heavy criticism after the EU first diplomat
became part of a show in which he was humiliated by his hosts.
In a blog
post, in language and tone suggesting the failed trip might have been somewhat
eyeopening for Borrell, he wrote that relations between the EU and Russia are
“at a crossroads” following a visit that the diplomat described as “very
complicated.”
According
to him, an “aggressively-staged press conference and the expulsion of three EU
diplomats during my visit indicate that the Russian authorities did not want to
seize this opportunity to have a more constructive dialogue with the EU.”
Russia
expels three EU diplomats while Borrell visits
Russia on
Friday (5 February) expelled diplomats from three European countries for
allegedly taking part in protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei
Navalny, after the European Union said ties with Moscow had hit a new low.
As both
diplomats were meeting face-to-face, Moscow had announced that diplomats from
Sweden, Poland, and Germany had been expelled for purportedly participating in
“illegal protests” to support jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny on 23
January.
All three
governments denied that their diplomats had participated in the demonstration.
Borrell, in
turn, said he learned about the expulsion through social media and had “asked
Lavrov to reverse this decision, but to no avail”.
The EU
“will have to draw the consequences” he wrote, insisting that “it will be for
member states to decide the next steps, and yes, these could include
sanctions.”
During a
press event on Friday, which saw orchestrated questions by Russian journalists,
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had called the EU “an unreliable
partner” and said it was acting more and more “like the United States”.
To add
insult to injury, Borrell’s visit was overshadowed by what some critics called
provocative choreography, as Navalny appeared in a glass cage in a Moscow
courtroom answering new charges.
The 50
minutes encounter confirmed those in Brussels and Central and Eastern Europe
who do not trust the Spaniard to hold the post of EU chief diplomat, or to
face-off with a seasoned diplomat like Lavrov.
Borrell
said he had conveyed the EU’s condemnation of Navalny’s jailing but did not
secure a meeting with neither the Kremlin critic himself nor any associates.
He, however, managed to meet with representatives of civil society, think tanks
and representatives of the European business community.
Russia
receives Borrell with 'provocative choreography'
On his trip
to Moscow, EU’s chief diplomat Joseph Borrell on Friday (5 February) told his
hosts that their treatment of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny
represented ‘a low point’ in ties, as his case had added a new irritant …
In his blog post, Borrell now called on the EU
to “reflect carefully on the direction we want to give to our relations with
Russia and proceed in a united manner with determination.”
He added
that the visit had “confirmed that Europe and Russia are drifting apart.”
The EU’s
chief diplomat, whose views do not necessarily represent those of all member
states, defended his visit arguing that criticising Russia from a distance
“will not bring greater security to the EU”.
“We have to
face challenges, including meeting others in their home turf, just when
negative events are unfolding” in order to better assess the action to take.
“If we want
a safer world for tomorrow, we have to act decidedly today and be ready to take
some risks,” he said.
“It seems
that Russia is progressively disconnecting itself from Europe and looking at
democratic values as an existential threat,” he wrote.
Borrell
said that during their “review of our troubled neighbourhood,” Russia and the
EU would “remain more often than not at odds”.
Contrary to
previous positions, Borrell this time around added that the EU’s next steps
could include further sanctions against Moscow.
“We also
have another tool in this respect, thanks to the recently approved EU human
rights sanctions regime,” he wrote.
Thus it
seems the EU’s recently approved Magnitsky-style law allows the bloc to impose
sanctions on individuals and organisations responsible for human rights abuses
anywhere in the world.
Despite
calls from the Baltic countries, Poland, Italy and Romania, EU foreign
ministers in January had decided to hold off from imposing fresh sanctions on
Russian officials in response to the detention of Navalny, but the tide could
be turning after the recent worsening of tensions and the outcomes of the trip
as calls across the bloc grow for more decisive action.
Borrell is
set to debrief his trip to EU foreign ministers on 22 February and EU leaders
are scheduled to discuss their strained ties with Russia during a March summit.
(Edited by
Georgi Gotev)
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