Borrell defends his trip to Moscow but admits that the result "has not been good"

Josep Borrell, this Tuesday in the European Parliament Delmi Alvarez

Josep Borrell, High Representative for EU Foreign Policy, did not attend the European Parliament on Tuesday.

In reality, the head of Brussels diplomacy has appeared in a hemicycle-shaped ring in the heart of a cold, empty and snowy Brussels.

Borrell arrived at the European Parliament on Tuesday and defended his controversial visit to Moscow on January 5, from which he already came out battered after the incessant rain of cheap blows from the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.

However, Borrell has not been able to deny the evidence and has recognized that perhaps the result of his visit had not been "good" and that he could have approached it "in a different way", but only after hearing the storm of criticism that countless MEPs have unleashed , one after another, from the rostrum.

Many have condemned a trip that they consider counterproductive, even humiliating and that leaves Brussels in a weak position.

A rather noisy minority and mainly from the East have demanded his resignation.

Some, few, have defended the actions of the High Representative.

Ultimately, the division reflects different positions within the EU on Russia's eternal dilemma.

Borrell has vindicated his role as the EU's chief diplomat and has spoken of the need to maintain relations with Europe's largest neighbor, however complicated these may be.

He wanted to travel to Russia at a time of maximum tension "to convey face to face the position of the EU on matters that concern us", in particular on the case of the poisoned, prosecuted and now convicted opponent, Alexéi Navalni, and the repression of the Demonstrations of support that have sprung up across the country in protest.

In Moscow he found, as he has said, the reality of a "power structure" that descends without restraint "down the path of authoritarianism", which is not interested in talking about civil liberties or human rights.

There he found, as he has assured, "that Russia is disconnected from Europe" because it considers "that our liberal democratic system is an existential threat."

While visiting Moscow, Borrell learned through social media of the expulsion of three EU diplomats (from Germany, Poland and Sweden) for participating in the massive pro-Navalni demonstrations in recent days.

These three countries responded reciprocally on Monday, expelling two Russian diplomats.

But Borrell's lack of forcefulness in the face of this gesture became one of the central arguments of the shots fired by the MEPs, to the point that the Catalan politician ended up replying: “It gave me the feeling [when listening to them] that whoever had expelled the diplomats was me! ”.

“Inevitably we had to talk to them,” Borrell claimed, however, before a rather deserted European Chamber, but in which fiery outbursts have been heard on occasions, including the protests of Catalan politicians who have fled to Belgium, who have taken all the week aligning himself with the postulates of Moscow, after being indirectly defended by Lavrov, who gave them an example of the "indecorous rhetoric" of Western countries, which, according to him, aspire to teach Russia lessons when in their own countries there are "Politicized decisions".

"It was time to say with physical presence our position with regard to the Navalni case," wielded Borrell, who added that he went to Russia with the robust endorsement of a majority of the members of the Foreign Affairs Council, where the members of the Foreign Affairs Council sit. ministers of the 27 member states.

"It is easier to write statements from my office, without moving, more comfortable and less risky," he said.

But according to his vision, the trip was not only necessary, but also had an effect on Russia: "You speak of humiliation [for the EU], but rest assured that it has not been comfortable for the Russian power" the fact that the person in charge of European diplomacy has come to their capital “to tell them to their faces what we tell them by correspondence”.

Hearing the incessant criticism from MEPs, Borrell has acknowledged on two occasions that perhaps things could have been done differently.

"It can be understood that the result [of the visit] has not been good and of course it is necessary to accept and admit that the media and majority interpretation is that it has not been," he assured.

And the head of European diplomacy added that perhaps he should have faced the intense public appearance in Russia, the trap that Lavrov had set for him, with another strategy: "In view of the general assessment, surely he should have approached it differently ", has held.

But Borrell has defended his position on it.

A press conference, he said, is not “a boxing match”, but the place where a position is exposed and reiterated: “That the EU is in deep disagreement and condemns the attempted murder of Mr. Navalni, the trials to which it is subjecting him, and the repression of civil society ”.

Borrell also recalled that there is a risk that the controversy becomes "a pim pam pum in which the only beneficiary is the Kremlin."

And he has claimed that the visit has served above all to help establish a European position

Relations between the EU and Russia, as he said, "are at a crossroads" and at the next Foreign Affairs Council and the March European Council the 27 will have to decide which way to go.

Nothing is disposable.

"This could lead to sanctions," Borrell said.