According to European news agencies, EU ambassadors have discussed the possibility of imposing restrictions on Russia, following the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Reason to worry?
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Photography:
AFP
The EU has begun discussing new sanctions against Russia following the arrest of Alexei Navalny, Bloomberg and the Russian TAS agency reported today (Thursday), based on European diplomats.
News agencies said that a meeting of EU ambassadors to the EU was taking place yesterday, "and they are all in favor of imposing more sanctions against Moscow," according to one of the diplomats.
After Navalny's sentencing: protests in Russia // Photo: Roits
The person confirming the information is German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass who said yesterday that "the next sanctions against Russia should be directed against the right people, in this case those responsible for the state's use of force against its citizens."
However, Mas noted that "the cancellation of the operation of the Russian 'Nord Stream 2' gas pipeline will bring Russia closer to China," as part of the expected geo-strategic implications.
This is a natural gas supply project to Europe that the Russians are building on a lot of revenue from.
Mass objected to the injury to employees of about 150 European companies involved in the Russian gas pipeline, the vast majority from Germany.
In addition, he stressed Germany's call for the immediate release of opposition leader Nabalani and other detainees.
The same protesters were arrested in two major protests in favor of Nabalny's release across Russia on January 23 and 31.
As you may recall, Navalny was arrested at the Sheremetyevo airport on January 17 upon his return from medical rehabilitation in Berlin.
He was convicted of violating the restrictions imposed on him following the "Yves Rocher" case, in which he was sentenced to 3.5 years probation for embezzlement.
On February 2, a Moscow court converted the sentence to 2.8 years in prison.
