Mark Galeotti Mark Galeotti

The EU humiliated itself in Moscow

It was a masterclass in the worst of European Union diplomacy. Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow was a triumph. Sadly, though, for the Russians. In light of the treatment. of opposition leader Alexei Navalny — imprisoned this week after he returned to the country whose leadership had tried to murder him — there had been calls for Borrell to cancel his visit.

At the very least, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy needed to make a robust defence of the opposition, whose marches had been met with violence from the security forces, and whose leaders were being persecuted and harassed, to prove that there was genuine will behind the EU’s professed commitment to universal human values.

On Navalny’s arrest, Ursula von der Leyen had issued an underwhelming 54-word statement demanding his release. Was this just empty rhetoric? We looked to Borrell for clarification.

The Russians don’t really believe the EU exists — they feel that genuine power still rests with nation states

And that he certainly provided. Even though Navalny was back in court, facing yet another dubious charge (this time of defaming a world war two veteran) Borrell rejected calls for him to visit the trial. Other diplomats did, including a representative from the British embassy, but Borrell opted not to, even though he had previously said he would be ‘very happy to see Mr Navalny’. His spokesperson ingeniously spinned that had Borrell met with him, ‘it would give the wrong impression that we accept the situation’.

As yet unexplained is quite why that prevented him from visiting an open court, or meeting representatives from Navalny’s team, or even seeing people from the independent civil society organisations that had monitored the official violence against protesters and provided legal aid to those arrested.

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