MOSCOW EXPELS POLISH, SWEDISH, GERMAN DIPLOMATS OVER NAVALNY PROTESTS

Fri 05 February 2021:

Russia says it has expelled diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden amid claims they took part in pro-Alexei Navalny protests.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that Moscow considered the actions of the diplomats unacceptable. It added that the unspecified number of diplomats who “took part in illegal protests were declared persona non grata” and “ordered to leave Russia in the near future.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “strongly condemned” Moscow’s expulsion of the diplomats on Friday, and called for this decision to be “reconsidered”.

In a statement, he said: “I strongly condemned this decision and rejected the allegations that they conducted activities incompatible with their status as foreign diplomats.

“The decision should be reconsidered. I stressed the European Union’s unity and solidarity with the member states concerned”.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Russia’s decision to expel diplomats from Germany, Sweden and Poland “is in no way justified and is further damaging relations with Europe”. There will be a response if Russia does not reconsider this step, Maas said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a Moscow court handed the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny a 3.5 year prison sentence.

Navalny’s imprisonment has stirred popular protests across Russia, with some 11,000 people detained by security forces over the previous two weekends and demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg on Tuesday.

Over 1,000 protesters were arrested in Moscow alone, overwhelming the city’s jails.

Many detainees had to spend hours on police buses after detention facilities in Moscow and St. Petersburg quickly ran out of space, or were cramped into cells intended to accommodate far fewer inmates.

Navalny appeared in court again on a defamation charge on Friday that he has also dismissed as politically motivated.

Following Navalny’s arrest, authorities also have moved swiftly to silence and isolate his allies. Last week, a Moscow court put his brother, Oleg, top associate Lyubov Sobol and several other key allies under house arrest – without access to the internet – for two months as part of a criminal probe into alleged violations of coronavirus restrictions during protests.