The Russian government on Friday (Feb. 5) announced the expulsion of a number of Western diplomats for participating in a rally in solidarity with jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the expulsions were of Polish and Swedish diplomats in St. Petersburg and German diplomats in Moscow for their participation in an “illegal” rally on Jan. 23.
On that day, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Russia to protest Navalny’s arrest.
As the Russian Foreign Ministry made the announcement, the European Union’s top diplomat told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the Russian government’s treatment of Navalny symbolized “a low point” in relations between the 27-nation EU bloc and Moscow.
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared the diplomats “persona non grata” and said they must leave Russia “in the short term.
A spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Sweden does not accept Russia’s claim that the Swedish diplomat was involved in the demonstration.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the Russian move and said that after discussing security issues with French President Emmanuel Macron, “we consider this expulsion to be unjustified.
“For its part, Poland expects the Russian authorities to retract the wrong decision,” the Polish Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “otherwise, Poland reserves the option to take appropriate measures.”
Macron told a press conference in Paris after a video conference with Merkel that he “very strongly” opposed Friday’s expulsion decision and Russia’s arrest and alleged attempt to poison Narvani.
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced Navalny to three and a half years in prison, despite international condemnation and domestic outrage, putting one of the Kremlin’s sharpest critics behind bars.
The court ruled that Navalny failed to notify prison authorities of his whereabouts when he was flown to Berlin, thereby violating the parole provisions of an original 2014 suspended sentence. Navalny was taken to Berlin for treatment after he was nearly killed in a poisoning attack.
Navalny insists, and international media investigations have shown, that the poisoning attack was carried out by Russian security agencies, who coated the opposition leader’s underwear with a military-grade nerve agent while he was traveling in Siberia last August. Russian authorities deny the allegation.
On Tuesday, Navalny’s sentencing triggered fresh protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg, following mass demonstrations that have been taking place over the past two weekends, resulting in more than 1,400 arrests.
In an effort to silence the opposition, Russian police beat many peaceful protesters and used tear gas on some.
Lavrov defended the Russian police’s response to the protesters. He argued that the force used by Russian police was no match for the actions taken by some police officers against protesters in Western countries.
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