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EU, US Call on Russia to Immediately Release Alexei Navalny and Protesters

Charles Maynes

   MOSCOW - Foreign Ministers of the European Union are meeting in
   Brussels Monday to debate the response of the 27-nation bloc to
   Russia's arrest of opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny
   and the police crackdown on pro-Navalny demonstrators, as pressure
   grows to impose sanctions on the Kremlin.

   Arriving for the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
   that the most recent "wave of detention is something that worries us a
   lot, as well as the detention of Mr. Navalny."

   German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that "everyone in Russia has
   the right to express their opinion and to demonstrate" under the
   Russian constitution. "The principles of the rule of law must apply
   there, too," Maas added, "Russia has always committed itself to that."

   Speaking to France-Inter radio Sunday, French Foreign Minister
   Jean-Yves Le Drian discussed what he called Russia's "authoritarian
   drift," saying that "all light must be shed" on Navalny's poisoning as
   an "assassination attempt."

   EU leaders have called on Russia to immediately release Navalny and all
   pro-Navalny protesters in detention.

   The United States strongly condemned the arrests and use of "harsh
   tactics against protesters and journalists this weekend in cities
   throughout Russia," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a
   statement Sunday.'¯

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