Ursula von der Leyen | Photo: EFE / EPA / ANTONIO BAT)
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The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula Von der Leyen, asked Russia on Monday to release “immediately” the Russian opposition Alexei Navalni, who was detained on Sunday by the Russian police at the Moscow airport during a passport control when landed from Germany.
“I condemn the arrest, yesterday, of Alexei Navalni by the Russian authorities, upon his return to Russia. The Russian authorities must release him immediately and guarantee his safety, “Von der Leyen said in a statement.
The EC president added that “the arrest of political opponents is contrary to Russia’s international commitments” and called for a “thorough and independent investigation” into Navalny’s poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok.
Von der Leyen joins the requests to release Navalni already made by the Presidents of the European Council, Charles Michel, the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union (EU), Josep Borrell.
Michel described as “unacceptable” the arrest of the Russian opponent, who hours before being arrested said he was not “afraid” and felt “completely happy” to return to his country.
For the head of European diplomacy, “the politicization of the judiciary is unacceptable” and the president of the European Parliament assured that Navalni’s arrest is “an offense to the international community, to Europe, which helped save his life.”
Sassoli alluded to the five months that Navalny was recovering in a hospital in Germany after his poisoning, which kept him in a coma for a month and for which he directly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In addition, the Italian said that he is willing to invite the Russian opponent back to the European Parliament, where Navalni already intervened in November by videoconference.
In his remarks to MEPs, he called on the EU to include Russian oligarchs close to Putin among those punished for his poisoning.
Also the leaders of Poland and the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) called on the EU to act and adopt “restrictive measures” against Russia.
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