Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers

Commenting on today's virtual meeting of EU foreign ministers, Sergey Lagodinsky, spokesperson on Russia for the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, said:

"We in the Greens/EFA group condemn the arrests and brutal crackdown by Russian security forces against peaceful demonstrators and call for the immediate release of Alexei Navalny and detained opponents of the regime. Criticism of Vladimir Putin and the disclosure of corruption and nepotism are not crimes. We call on the High Representative for Foreign Affairs to insist on meeting Alexei Navalny and members of the independent opposition during his visit to Moscow.

"It is very worrying that EU foreign ministers could not agree on further sanctions against the Russian regime. The German government must finally stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. We call for targeted sanctions against those responsible for the political targeting of opponents and police violence. The European Union must cut off corrupt oligarchs who launder their money in the EU with effective anti-corruption measures. The weakness of the foreign ministers' decision-making shows once again that we need a new strategic EU foreign policy."