Germany, Poland and Sweden each expelled a Russian diplomat in a coordinated act of retaliation over the expulsion of three EU officials by Moscow while the bloc’s foreign policy chief visited last week.
The evictions on the tik-for-tat Monday highlighted the volatility in east-west relations and an erosion of confidence among former enemies of the Cold War, as western Moscow accused them of trying to destabilize it and rejecting the Kremlin, which he is regarded as foreign interference.
EU chief executive Josep Borrell has defended his trip to Russia, where he said he heard about the initial evictions via social media while talking to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the removal of diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden, who were accused by Moscow of taking part in protests against prison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny last month, a day before Borrell’s journey took place.
The German Foreign Office said in a statement regarding the expulsion of a Russian diplomat that the German official, who had been trained by Moscow, was only “carrying out his task of reporting on the development on the ground in a lawful manner”.
The Polish Foreign Ministry said it was ordering a member of the Russian consulate in the city of Poznan to leave “in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and in cooperation with Germany and Sweden”.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Stockholm’s actions were a “clear reaction to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who had only fulfilled his duties”.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said EU action against its diplomats is “unfair and unfriendly”, the Interfax news agency reported.
In a blog released late on Sunday, Borrell said his pleas to Russia to stop the evictions are not being ignored. Former Estonian defense chief Riho Terras, now an EU lawmaker, has launched a campaign to thank the High Representative.
But the European Commission’s executive said it was not regrettable that Borrell had made his first trip to Moscow as the EU’s foreign policy coordinator, as Russia was set on a course towards confrontation.
“The trip was necessary. “You do not give up on a trip because it seems difficult,” said Commission spokesman Eric Mamer in Brussels. “A journey is not a success or a failure based on what happens during a particular moment.”
Peskov told reporters Russian officials “were not the initiators of the collapse of relations”.
On Tuesday, Borrell will address the European Parliament, which calls for sanctions to stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 energy pipeline between Russia and Germany. Some diplomats have said some EU countries need to step up an increase for new Western sanctions against Moscow.
Poland on Monday aired a two-hour video call with EU states in which envoys from Britain, the US, Canada and Ukraine, as well as two allies from Navalny, Vladimir Ashurkov and Leonid Volkov, teamed up to discuss policy on Russia. to discuss, including the potential sanctions.
Navalny was jailed on February 2 after a Russian court ruled he had violated the terms of a suspended sentence in an embezzlement case he said was being investigated.
During the official visit, Borrell and Lavrov held a news conference at which the Russian minister described the EU as an unreliable partner and the Spaniard praised the Russian Covid-19 vaccine.
Borrell went to Moscow to seek Navalny’s release and to resume EU-Russia relations, but in the blog post he said Friday’s news conference was ‘aggressively presented’ and that the trip was ‘very complicated’.
“Russia is gradually breaking away from Europe and viewing democratic values as an existential threat,” Borrell wrote. “It will be up to member states to decide on the next steps, and yes, that could include sanctions.”