Last week. during a visit by the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slapped down the EU's sanctimonious interference in Russia's internal policies.
Back in Brussels, Borrell, who was criticized by some EU hardliners for not directly rebuffing Lavrov's talk, set down to write a blog post in which again attacked Russia over the latest Navalny stunt:
I have just returned from a very complicated visit to Moscow, on which I had embarked to discuss the fraught state of EU-Russia relations. They have been low for a number of years, and deteriorated even further after recent developments linked to the poisoning, arrest, and sentencing of Alexei Navalny as well as the related mass arrests of thousands of demonstrators. The purpose of this mission was to express directly the EU’s strong condemnation of these events and to address, through principled diplomacy, the process of a rapid worsening of our relationship with Russia, and to help prepare the forthcoming European Council discussions on EU-Russia relations.
Borrell is delusional. Hardly anyone in Russia believes the nonsensical poisoning story for which the 'west' could provide exactly zero evidence:
Brett Harris @BrettHar123 – 18:41 UTC · Feb 7, 2021
Only 15% in Russia believe the Navalny poisoning was the Govt trying to eliminate an opponent, and the 15% based this opinion from Telegram and the Internet and were mostly 18-24. The rest think it was staged, a Western false flag, personal or opposition: https://levada.ru/2020/12/24/…
The whole Navalny poisoning was obviously some secret service operation to bash Russia. His lavish living in in a 5 bed room luxurious apartment in Germany after he was released from hospital was paid by the libertarian oligarch Evgeny Chichvarkin. Chichvarkin, who lives in London, is probably an MI6 cutout. It is still not known who paid the multimillion production costs for the fake 'Putin palace' video. The studio renting for the video was requested by a company in Los Angeles. Some U.S. involvement is thereby assured.
Poland and other NATO countries are now openly pressing Navalny and other traitors like him to continue their regime change attempts:
Poland in the EU @PLPermRepEU – 12:26 UTC · Feb 8, 2021
The recent developments in 🇪🇺 – 🇷🇺 relations require action from the #EU Member States.
This is why 🇵🇱 is hosting a virtual meeting with A.@Navalny's closest associates @LeonidVolkov & @VAshurkov.
The EU27 PermReps alongside 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 Ambassadors are now discussing the next steps.
Ashurkov is the guy who, in this 2012 video, can be seen meeting with a British agent and asking for money and political dirt from abroad to run smear attacks on Russian businessmen and politicians.
Volkov is another crazy dude. He has now declared himself to be the Foreign Minister of the Russian government in exile (machine translation):
Navalny's headquarters coordinator Volkov said from abroad that he was gathering the Russian government in exile and had already named himself acting foreign minister. And to get Navalny out of prison, according to him, he will primarily use foreign policy methods, that is, sanctions. The plot is shown on the air of the "60 minutes" program.
Working for foreign secret services seems to pay well.
Elena Evdokimova @elenaevdokimov7 – 21:59 UTC · Feb 9, 2021
A house in Luxenburg's city Mamer that belongs to the head of Navalny's FBK Leonid Volkov. Bought in 2014 for 720,000 euro. It shows that FBK, accusing Russian government people in having villas & property abroad, have villas & property abroad themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6KEhZk1nwQ
Navalny, Ashurkov and Volkov are traitors and should be handled as such.
Besides again bashing Russia over issues that are not the EU's business Borrell also issued a new thread:
We are at a crossroads. The strategic choices we make now will determine international power dynamics in the 21st century, and notably whether we will advance towards more cooperative or more polarised models, based on closed or on freer societies. The European Union can influence these developments, which requires a clear vision and objectives, accompanied by intense diplomatic engagement, supported by our many means of external action and projection of influence.
We will discuss these issues with my fellow EU foreign ministers. As ever, it will be for member states to decide the next steps, and yes, these could include sanctions. And we also have another tool in this respect, thanks to the recently approved EU human’s rights sanctions regime.
Does the idiot really think he can impress Russia with such sanctions talk?
Today, in an interview with a Russian TV station, Lavrov gave his response (machine translated). The headline was sensational: Lavrov said Russia is ready to break off relations with the EU.
Russia is ready to break off relations with the European Union, but would not want to isolate itself from world life. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the air of the "Soloviev Live" program.
When asked by Vladimir Solovyov whether Moscow is heading for a break with Brussels, Lavrov replied: "We proceed from the fact that we are ready." The minister stressed that sanctions create risks for our economy, including in the most sensitive areas. "We do not want to isolate ourselves from world life, but we must be ready for this," the minister said.
The Kremlin later said that some media misrepresented Lavrov's remarks but essentially confirmed his stand:
Russia should be ready for hostile acts from the European Union but would not want to sever ties with Brussels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday, commenting on the remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who said that Moscow is ready cut ties with the EU if Brussels chooses to impose sanctions that endanger sensitive sectors of the Russian economy.
…
"The point is that we don’t want this [to sever ties with the EU] but seek to develop relations with the European Union. However, if the EU chooses to go down this path [of imposing sanctions that entail risk for the Russian economy], then yes, we will be ready because you need to be ready for the worst," he explained.
…
According to Peskov, Lavrov’s comments do not require "any confirmation." "Of course, if we face the most destructive policy that causes damage to our infrastructure and our interests, then Russia should be ready in advance for these hostile steps," Peskov stressed.
Borrell and other EU folks fail to understand that Russia has given up on a 'greater Europe'. It no longer cares what the EU thinks:
The West’s mistake with Russia was expecting it to Westernize without any prospect of integration into Western institutions. NATO and the EU wanted a say in Moscow’s affairs while denying it a voice in broader European issues.
This was both wrong and unsustainable and now has brought us to a situation where, after 300 years, Russia has ended its Western-centric foreign policy. The EU has not yet recognized the truly historic shift that has occurred. In the early 18th century, Peter the Great sought to return Russia to Europe. But now, after a brief revival in the 1990s and 2000s, the dream of a Greater Europe has been recognized to be just that, a dream.
Western support for the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine drove the final nail into the coffin. But in Brussels and Washington, they are still living in a delusion and have failed to recognize how strongly Moscow feels about what happened.
Russia has turned to greater Eurasia of which western Europe is just a tiny peninsula. A U.S. proxy that has no independent voice and can no longer be taken serious. It will now be ignored.
Today Navalny was back in court for publicly insulting a World War II veteran. The EU will certainly make remarks about that. But only a few days ago police in Scotland arrested someone because he typed a mean tweet about a British veteran of that war. Brussels will certainly have nothing to say about that.
And that is at the core of the whole issue. Brussels has become used to tell others 'Do as we say, not as we do.'
That no longer works. Certainly not with Russia.