Kremlin defends Russia’s expulsion of EU diplomats

The Kremlin has thrown its weight behind Russia’s expulsion of European Union diplomats during their high-profile visit to the country, but insisted that Moscow remained interested in reviving relations with Brussels.

Russia announced on February 5 the expulsion of three diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden during a rare meeting in Moscow between EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said the three diplomats had taken part in unauthorized demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg on January 23 and had been declared persona non grata. They had been ordered to leave Russia at the earliest.

The declaration of the three foreign diplomats as persona non grata was a "consequence of the actions of some diplomatic missions in Moscow against the backdrop of illegal riots," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday.

Russia, he added, “has clearly demonstrated it does not intend to tolerate this.”

“Russia has been, and remains interested in reviving relations between Moscow and Brussels.”

Peskov underlined that Moscow did not initiate “the collapse” of the relationship.

Borrell condemned Russia’s decision to expel the diplomats during the meeting with Lavrov, but said there were no immediate plans for new European sanctions against Moscow.

Tens of thousands of Russians demonstrated for two consecutive weekends in January, demanding the release of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, a Kremlin critic who was sentenced to nearly three years in prison last week.

Navalny was jailed on February 2 after a Russian court ruled he had violated the terms of a suspended sentence in an embezzlement case on December 30, 2014.

The Russian government had earlier declared the gatherings as “illegal,” and “unauthorized.”

MG