The EU conveys to Russia its condemnation of the sanctions against the president of the European Parliament and a commissioner

The vice-president of the European Commission of Values ​​and Transparency, Vera Jourová, at a press conference in Brussels Delmi Álvarez

The European Union has summoned this Monday the Russian ambassador to the community institutions, Vladimir Chizho, to protest the sanctions imposed by Moscow on eight senior European officials, including the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the vice president of the Commission in charge of Values ​​and Transparency, the Czech Vera Jourová. Brussels considers that the Kremlin's decision is eminently political and lacks a legal basis, and that for this reason it only contributes to degrade the already battered relations between the two blocs.

Brussels did not want to miss the latest sanctions imposed by the Kremlin on eight senior European officials.

The Secretary General of the European Commission, Ilze Juhansone, and his counterpart in the European External Action Service, Stefano Sannino, were in charge of officially conveying to the Russian diplomat the "strong condemnation and rejection" of the EU to that decision, that Moscow launched in response to the sanctions approved by the EU in the case of Russian opponent Alexei Navalni.

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In a statement, the EU reported that Juhansone and Sannino insisted on the message launched jointly on Friday by the presidents of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen; of the Council, Charles Michel, and the Parliament, David Sassoli. They considered that the action was "unacceptable" and warned that they reserve the right to adopt new measures in the face of the Kremlin's provocation. For his part, the Commission's Foreign Spokesperson, Peter Stano, reiterated this Monday that "there is no legal explanation for this action" by the Russian Government. "All these countermeasures are obviously highly politically motivated and without legal justification," he said.

Moscow had long warned that it wanted to respond to the sanctions approved by the European Union in March, which were adopted following the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalni, who had to be treated in a German hospital last summer after being poisoned in Siberia. with Novichok, a neurotoxin for military use manufactured in the former Soviet Union, and was arrested on his return to Moscow. The Kremlin finally decided to ban the entry into the country of Sassoli and Jourová, very critical of the persecution of Navalni, as well as six other high-ranking European officials, including the French deputy and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Jacques Maire; the chief prosecutor of Berlin, Jorg Raupach, or the official of the Swedish investigation agency Asa Scott.

For the EU, these sanctions are another step in the escalation of tension that Russia maintains with Western countries, in this case, with the 27. The two senior community officials reminded the Russian representative of the expulsion of Czech diplomats from Russia or the executive order of the so-called "hostile countries", including several partners from Eastern Europe.

The EU conveyed to Vladimir Chizho its concern about the “cumulative impact” that all these episodes have on the relations between the two blocs.

In a statement, Russia described the relationship between Brussels and Moscow now as "unhealthy" and urged the European side to make "diplomatic efforts" to correct it.

Last week, the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, already warned in a speech before the European Parliament that Russia may continue its drift until "reaching even more dangerous levels of deterioration" to which it will be necessary to respond.

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