On Monday 19 February, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announced that the EU would be imposing additional sanctions on Russian officials following the death of political opponent Alexei Navalny.
Taking the view that the “ultimate responsibility” for Mr Navalny’s death “lies with President Putin and the Russian authorities”, the High Representative, in a statement on behalf of the EU, warned that the EU, in close coordination with its partners, would “spare no efforts to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account, in close coordination with our partners; and impose further costs for their actions, including through sanctions”.
Speaking to the media at the end of the Foreign Affairs Council, which welcomed Mr Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, Mr Borrell said that the opponent had been “slowly murdered in a Russian prison by Putin’s regime”.
“Putin is a murderer, he murdered a person who fought for freedom and democracy”, explained the Estonian minister, Margus Tsahkna. For her Romanian counterpart, Luminita Odobescu, “there is no doubt that Putin’s regime is responsible”.
To “pay tribute to Mr Nalvany and honour his memory”, Mr Borrell proposed renaming the EU’s human rights sanctions regime the “Navalny Human Rights Sanctions Regime”. A proposal politically accepted by the Member States.
The EU has also called on Russia to authorise an independent and transparent international investigation into the circumstances of this “sudden death”. “I need an independent report, not one from Moscow”, explained Luxembourg minister Xavier Bettel. In his view, it is in the interests of the Russian authorities to have an independent investigation, if they are not implicated in the death. Mr Navalny’s spokeswoman announced on Monday that the Russian investigators “would not hand over (Mr Navalny’s) body and that they would carry out a chemical analysis and an investigation over the next 14 days”.
The Union has also called for the immediate release of those arrested for paying tribute to Mr Navalny in Russia.
Echoing Ms Navalnaya’s words “Putin is not Russia, Russia is not Putin”, Mr Borrell promised that the EU would continue to support Russian civil society and independent media. “Mr Navalny’s unexpected and shocking death is yet another sign of the accelerating and systematic repression in Russia”, he stressed, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all other political prisoners.
Ms Navalnaya announced that she would continue her husband’s “work”.
See the joint statement: https://aeur.eu/f/axg (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)