Russia ready to cut ties with EU if hit with painful sanctions
According to ALJAZEERA, Russia has said it is prepared to cut ties with the European Union, should the bloc follow through with a threat to impose punishing sanctions on Moscow, as the row over Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny escalates.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks that Russia is ready to retaliate if the EU takes punitive action.
“If we see again, as we have felt more than once, that sanctions imposed in some areas create risks to our economy, including in the most sensitive spheres, then yes,” Lavrov said.
“We don’t want to be isolated from international life, but we must be ready for that. If you want peace, you must prepare for war.”
Western powers, along with thousands of Russian protesters, have been calling for Navalny’s release from jail.
He was imprisoned after returning to Moscow last month, having flown in from Berlin where he was treated following an alleged poisoning attack he blames on Russian officials.
He was jailed having violated the terms of a suspended sentence relating to a case in 2014, which he has alleged was politically motivated.
Navalny appeared in court again on Friday, on a separate charge of slander which he has also denounced as politically motivated.
As calls to free Navalny grew, the EU’s chief diplomat, JosepBorrell, on Tuesday said he would recommend sanctions during a meeting of EU ministers later this month.
Borrell visited Russia last week for talks with Lavrov, a move that marked the first visit by a top EU official to Moscow since 2017 and drew condemnation from some of the bloc’s member states.
During Borrell’s visit, Russia announced the expulsion of diplomats from Sweden, Germany and Poland, accusing them of participating in illegal protests last month against Navalny’s jailing.
EU powerhouses France and Germany have said there must be a response to Russia’s actions.
Germany, which expelled a member of the Russian embassy in Berlin in a tit-for-tat move on Monday, described Lavrov’s remarks on Friday as “disconcerting”.
Moscow has dismissed foreign criticism of its handling of Navalny’s case as external interference and accused the West of hysteria and double standards.
