Germany, Poland and Sweden each expelled a Russian diplomat in a coordinated act of retaliation for the expulsion of three EU officials from Moscow during a visit by the bloc’s foreign policy chief last week.
The evictions in the same currency on Monday underscored the volatility in East-West relations and an erosion of confidence among former cold war opponents, as the West accuses Moscow of trying to destabilize it and the Kremlin rejects what it sees as foreign interference.
The EU executive defended Josep Borrell on his trip to Russia, where he said he learned of the initial expulsions via social media when speaking to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the removal of diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden, accused by Moscow of participating in protests last month against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, has taken place the day before Borrell’s trip.
The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on the expulsion of a Russian diplomat, said that the German official expelled by Moscow was only “fulfilling its task of reporting events on the ground legally”.
Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had ordered a member of the Russian consulate in the city of Poznan to leave “according to the principle of reciprocity and in coordination with Germany and Sweden”.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said the Stockholm action was “a clear response to the unacceptable decision to expel a Swedish diplomat who was just performing his duties”.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the EU countries’ action against their diplomats was “unjustified and hostile”, reported the Interfax news agency.
In a blog published late on Sunday, Borrell said his calls to Russia to stop the evictions were ignored. Former Estonian defense chief Riho Terras, now an EU legislator, started a campaign calling for the resignation of the high representative.
But the European commission executive said he did not regret Borrell’s first trip to Moscow as EU foreign policy coordinator because Russia was headed for the confrontation.
“The trip was necessary. You don’t give up on a trip because it looks difficult, ”said commission spokesman Eric Mamer in Brussels. “A trip is not a success or a failure based on what happens during a given moment.”
Peskov told reporters that Russian officials “were not the initiators of the collapse in relations”.
On Tuesday, Borrell will address the European Parliament, which has asked for sanctions to prevent the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. Some EU states are intensifying pressure for new Western sanctions against Moscow, two diplomats said.
Poland called a two-hour video call with EU countries on Monday, which was attended by envoys from Britain, the USA, Canada and Ukraine, as well as two Navalny allies, Vladimir Ashurkov and Leonid Volkov, to discuss the policy on Russia, including potential sanctions.
Navalny was arrested on February 2 after a Russian court ruled that he violated the terms of a suspended sentence in an embezzlement case he says was forged.
During the official visit, Borrell and Lavrov gave a press conference in which the Russian minister described the EU as “an unreliable partner” and the Spanish praised the Russian Covid-19 vaccine.
Borrell had gone to Moscow to seek Navalny’s release and try to relaunch EU-Russia relations, but in a blog post he said Friday’s press conference was “aggressively staged” and the trip “very complicated”.
“Russia is progressively disconnecting from Europe and seeing democratic values as an existential threat,” wrote Borrell. “It will be up to member states to decide the next steps and, yes, they can include sanctions.”