Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Russia Expels European Diplomats For Attending Protest For Kremlin Critic

Russia Expels European Diplomats For Attending Protest For Kremlin Critic

The move comes hours after the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell met Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and described the bloc's ties with Russia as at a "low point" over Navalny's jailing.

Russia on Friday expelled diplomats from three European countries for taking part in protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, after the European Union said ties with Moscow had hit a new low.

With EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Moscow for a rare visit, Russia said it had declared diplomats from Poland, Germany and Sweden persona non grata for participating in "illegal protests" on January 23 in support of Navalny.

The West has fiercely condemned Navalny's arrest in mid-January, a crackdown on mass demonstrations by his supporters, and a court ruling on Tuesday to jail the 44-year-old anti-corruption campaigner for nearly three years.

Moscow announced the expulsions just hours after Borrell met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss ties, with the unspecified number of diplomats "ordered to leave Russia in the near future".

The foreign ministry did not provide details of how they had been involved in the protests, saying only that Russia expects foreign diplomats to "strictly follow the norms of international law".

Russia has bristled at Western backing for Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent opponent, accusing Europe and the United States of interfering in its domestic affairs.

"Our relationship is indeed in a difficult moment," Borrell told Lavrov during the talks, adding that the relationship is "under severe strain and the Navalny case is a low point."

The two men said there were hopes for cooperation in some areas, including on the coronavirus pandemic, but the announcement of the expulsions was unlikely to help ease tensions.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said Borrell had learned of the decision in his meeting with Lavrov.

Borrell "strongly condemned this decision and rejected the allegations that they conducted activities incompatible with their status as foreign diplomats," he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the action as "not justified", while Sweden's foreign ministry said it was "completely unfounded" and warned that it reserved the right "to an appropriate response".

Borrell's visit was the first to Russia by a senior EU envoy since 2017, following years of deteriorating relations sparked by Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Navalny back in court


Ties have further worsened in recent months, after three European labs concluded that Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-designed nerve agent in an attack in Siberia in August.

He blames Putin for the poisoning, a charge the Kremlin denies.

Navalny was flown to Germany to recover from the poisoning then arrested at a Moscow airport when he returned to Russia in mid-January.

He was accused of violating the parole conditions of a 2014 suspended sentence on fraud charges and on Tuesday jailed for two years and eight months.

He was back in court on Friday on separate charges of defaming a World War II veteran, which could see him jailed for an additional two years.

The trained lawyer is accused of describing people who appeared in a pro-Kremlin video -- including the 95-year-old veteran -- as "the shame of the country" and "traitors" in a June tweet.

In court Navalny and his lawyers said the case was politically motivated and a pretext to silence him.

"Truth is on my side"


"It is clear to everyone that the truth is on my side," he said, standing in glass cage for defendants in the Moscow courtroom.

Borrell's visit drew criticism from some European capitals worried Moscow would spin it as evidence Brussels is keen to return to business as usual, with some in Europe calling for new sanctions on Russia.

The Kremlin on Friday also lashed out against what it called "aggressive and unconstructive rhetoric" from the United States this week.

"We've already said that we will not heed patronising statements of this sort," said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

President Joe Biden on Thursday said the United States will no longer be "rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions" and his officials said they would take action against Moscow over Navalny and for other "malign" behaviour.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×