The activist’s appearance came shortly before EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
His decision to go ahead with the trip to Russia as planned – despite protests and the continued imprisonment of Russia’s most prominent opposition figure – without preconditions infuriated critics of the EU’s relationship with Russia.
“If the EU is serious about dialogue with Russia and not just with a group of criminals around Putin, Borrell should have met with Navalny as a precondition,” said Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition politician based in Russia that has been poisoned twice in the past five years.
Speaking next to Lavrov, Borrell said he had asked Russia to release Navalny, who was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, and to start an investigation into his poisoning.
“While we fully respect Russian sovereignty and its own responsibility with regard to fulfilling its international commitments, the European Union considers that issues related to the rule of law, human rights, civil society and political freedom are central to a future common for both the European Union and Russia, “said Borrell.
He added that relations between the European Union and Russia have, in recent years, “been marked by fundamental differences and a lack of confidence”.
Lavrov, for his part, criticized the sanctions against Moscow, saying that EU-Russia relations have gone through “difficult times due to unilateral and illegitimate restrictions that the EU has imposed under false pretenses”.
He said it is important that Russia and the EU “show their intention to support channels of dialogue, especially on issues on which we have divergent views”. And he warned that “deteriorating relationships are fraught with negative consequences.”
Defamation Complaint
Navalny’s defamation trial was due to resume on January 20, but was postponed after his arrest at the airport on January 17, moments after he returned to Moscow from Germany.
At the beginning of the hearing, Navalny asked the court for half an hour to hear the case and talk to his lawyers. The court said he had since August to familiarize himself with the case, to which Navalny replied, “I had many other things to do in August.”
Navalny continued to ridicule the legal process and demand that the veteran, in his 90s, be able to remove his mask and lie down. The veteran attended the hearing via a video link from his apartment.
Asked by the prosecutor if he understood the charges, Navalny replied: “No, I don’t know anything about Artemenko, except that his relatives are cheating on him.”
Navalny is accused of violating Russia’s defamation law in his comments on social media last June about the RT video, which also featured prominent Russian sports and cultural figures. The constitutional changes, which were supported in the July 1 referendum, paved the way for Putin, who ruled for two decades, to remain president until 2036.
In December, the defamation penalty was changed to include a possible prison sentence. But at the time of the alleged offense, the culprits could only be fined up to one million rubles (about $ 13,300) or forced to perform community services.
Speaking on Friday, Navalny accused the Russian courts of being “corrupt” and claimed that the case against him had been started not by investigators, but by “Russia Today (RT) public relations personnel.”
“Cases are always made up against me, but the authorities have problems when the cases go to court,” he said. “It is clear to everyone that the truth is on my side.”
Navalny was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for not presenting himself to probation officers after his poisoning last summer and therefore violating the terms of a suspended sentence for embezzlement in a 2014 case. The European Court of Human Rights decided that this case was politically motivated.
CNN’s Mary Ilyushina reported from Moscow and Laurs Smith-Spark wrote from London. Schams Elwazer and James Frater contributed to this report.