One the anniversary of 45-year-old Russian dissident Alexi Navalny’s arrest after returning to Moscow following Novichok poisoning, 74-year-old European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to release him from his two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Borrell’s comments aren’t likely to go over well in Moscow, where Navalny is considered the enemy-of-the-state for his clandestine network designed to oust Putin from power. When you consider the crisis in Ukraine, you’d think that Borrell is completely tone-deaf, knowing the European Union’s call for Navalny’s release wouldn’t play well. Fresh reports about the British government supplying Ukraine with anti-tank weapons certain won’t play well at the Kremlin. But Borrell’s demand that Navalny be released from a Russian penal colony should drive more of a wedge with Moscow.
Borrell said the EU reiterates its “call on the Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release without further delay,” Borrell said the anniversary of Navalny arrest by Russian authorities. Surely Borrell knows that EU demands for Navalny’s release are likely to backfire, causing the Kremlin to keep Navalny in custody far longer than his two-year-ten-month prison sentence. Kremlin officials don’t like the West meddling in Russian affairs, especially for a known dissident who’s clandestine organization has done everything possible to undermine Putin’s government. “We deplore that the Russian legal system continues to be instrumentalized against Mr. Navalny, as he now faces new criminal charges,” Borrell said, calling Navalny’s charges “politically motivated.” Borrell and his EU colleagues have made the situation worse for Navalny, demanding his release.
No one in the EU considers the consequences to meddling with Russian internal affairs, no matter what the anniversary of Navalny’s incarceration. Navalny was warned before returning to Moscow from his medical treatment for Novichok poisoning in Germany, knowing that he’d face Russian justice. Navalny could have run his anti-Putin organization from any number of EU countries, since there’s plenty of sympathy for his anti-Putin cause. When you consider the delicate nature of negotiations on Ukraine, you’d think Borrell would have shown more restraint when it came to Navalny on the anniversary of his incarceration. Whatever happened with Navalny’s Aug. 24, 2020 Novichok poisoning in Siberia, the Russian government has emphatically denied that it was involved. U.S., EU and British authorities have seen on former Russian dissidents poisoned by Russian agents.
Borrell condemned what he called a persecution campaign against Navalny’s associates, calling for the release of Lilya Chanysheva, former head of Navalny’s office in the city of Ufa. Borrell without knowing it makes the Kremlin’s argument why Navalny’s clandestine network must be dismantled all over the Russia. President Joe Biden, 79, and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Tony Blinken called for Navalny’s release from prison over a year ago, antagonizing Putin at the time. Putin questioned how the U.S. can prosecute Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, issuing long prison sentences while, at the same time, condemn Moscow’s attempt to deal with Navalny and his dissident organization. Putin’s well aware of the House Select Committee currently throwing the book at anyone involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. When it comes to Putin, Biden has nothing good to say about the Russian president.
When it comes to Western officials saying that Putin seeks any excuse to invade Ukraine, there’s simply no evidence other than fake news that’s his intention. Putin and his chief Geneva envoy Seregi Rybakov has said emphatically that Russia has no intent of invading Ukraine. Yet if you listen to U.S., EU or NATO officials you’d think that an invasion was imminent. Putin threw the fake news for a loop denying that he had any intent of invading Ukraine. Yet when you hear the British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace say the British advisers have supplied Ukraine with defensive anti-tank missiles, you know it can only confirm to Putin that NATO continues to meddle in Ukraine. “These are short-range . . but nevertheless it would make people pause and think what they were doing and if tanks were to roll into Ukraine, invade it, then they would be part of the defense mechanism,” Wallace told the parliament.
Supplying Ukraine with anti-tank weapons only makes a bad situation worse, a self-fulfilling prophecy of a possible Russian invasion. When you listen to Borrell chastising Putin for keeping Navalny detained, it makes you wonder what the EU’s motives in further antagonizing the Kremlin. Any subversive is dealt with harshly by the EU when it comes to countries or factions looking to break up the 27-member union. When Britain left the EU Jan. 31, 2021, it practically destroyed the once stable economic bloc. But Borrell’s swipes at Putin, demanding Navalny’s release, makes a bad situation worse, shows the kind of tone-deaf diplomacy that makes relations with Moscow all the more difficult. U.S. and EU officials know that Navalny is committed to ousting Putin, proving to the Russian government that the U.S. and EU would do anything to undermine Putin’s 22-year reign of power.
