 "People gather outside the Russian embassy, following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. REUTERS.")
The death of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arch-rival Alexei Navalny under mysterious circumstances in one of the most notorious Arctic prisons—his mother denied access to body, the whereabouts of which remain shrouded—has put European Union (EU) on the edge.
The bloc is considering the development in continuum with the Ukraine war.
‘Let’s have an army’
At the EU foreign ministers’ meet in Brussels, Belgium’s Hadja Lahbib called upon her counterparts to develop an army to prevent Putin’s “dictatorship” from coming closer to the EU borders.
“It’s been almost two years since Russia attacked Ukraine, trying to subjugate, to invade this country hungry for democracy and freedom, just like Putin’s fiercest opponent, Alexei Navalny, who died this weekend,” Lahbib said.
“Here too, we must become aware of what is at stake today. If Ukraine is invaded, if Russia manages to expand, it is a dictatorship that will expand and move a little closer to the European Union.”
“It is essential,” Lahbib said, “we develop a defence capacity together, that we also develop an army, not only to defend our territory, but also our values.”
‘Putin is a murderer’
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, called Vladimir Putin a “murderer” while making a case for further assistance to Ukraine in arms and ammunition.
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More Shorts“Putin is a murderer. He has murdered one person who fought for freedom for democracy and this is exactly why we have to keep going.”
“I’ve been asked many times during the last couple of days what our response is [to Navalny’s death] but the best response and most clear response would be this: finally do our job.”
Aid to Ukraine
Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis castigated his counterparts for not doing enough for Ukraine to enable the latter to fight Russia that wielded a “6:1” advantage in terms of ammunition.
He said while EU had spent two years “discussing” as help rolled in to Ukraine “bit by bit”, it was a “miracle” that Ukraine had lasted so far.
Navalny’s Death Sparks More Sanctions
Germany’s foreign minister announced Berlin will host a reconstruction summit for Ukraine in June. Annalena Baerbock said EU would soon roll out the 13th round of sanctions against Russia which would be informed by Navalny’s death. She also hoped that Hungary would join the sanctions.
Arriving at the foreign ministers summit in Brussels, she promised the EU would continue to support the democracy in Russia for which Alexei Navalny had fought.
“Alexei Navalny had to pay with his life. Our thoughts are not only with with his family, with the many, many courageous people around Alexei Navalny who stand up for freedom in Russia, but we will also be here today with Yulia Navalny here in Brussels today, because the spirit of freedom can never be silenced forever.”
Russia Lambasts West
Russia rejected the West’s reaction to Alexei Navalny’s death as “absolutely unacceptable”.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters: “These statements, of course, cannot cause any damage to our head of our state.”
Peskov said Russia was already probing Navalny’s death according to the law of the land.