Modern Diplomacy
Published 2 months ago
“2020 has been a disastrous year for human rights in Europe,” commented Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, at a speech in front of the Council of Europe at the end of last year.
In an unprecedented fashion, the COVID-19 pandemic (C-19) has brought to fore a tremendous increase in human rights violations in 2020 throughout the world. According to
Reporters Without Borders’ tracker 19 mapping human rights cases of abuse worldwide, Europe is no exception to the rule. While it contains one of the most advanced human rights protection systems globally, the old continent has seen itself prey to governmental and media attempts to erode democracy and human rights.
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The European Union is likely to impose new sanctions on Russia over the Navalny case following the unsuccessful visit to Moscow by its top diplomat Josep Borrell, said experts interviewed by Izvestia. Borrell faced criticism in the EU, where his trip was deemed to be a failure.
Of all Russian high-ranking officials, only Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Borrell. The EU top diplomat spent the rest of his time in Moscow in meetings with members of NGOs and the academic community. At a joint press conference, Lavrov castigated the EU as an unreliable partner, while Borrell repeated the usual EU rhetoric without confidence. In the middle of his visit, Moscow expelled three diplomats from the German, Polish and Swedish embassies, saying that they had attended unauthorized rallies in Navalny’s support.
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On February 3, a group of US senators came up with a bill calling for new sanctions against Russia for brazen violations of international law including the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny. The European Union and Germany may also introduce more restrictive measures against Moscow, according to Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert, Vedomosti writes.
Director of Programs at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Ivan Timofeev pointed out that numerous bills on imposing sanctions against Moscow had been introduced in the US before and most of them will never become law. The expert added that apart from bills, there also are senators’ letters, urging the US Department of State to take action against Russia under the Magnitsky Act and the 1991 Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act. US Congressional members are taking advantage of the issue in order to score political
The European Union’s foreign policy chief repeated demands for the release of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny at talks in Moscow overshadowed by President Vladimir Putin’s sweeping crackdown on dissent.
How Will the West Respond to Navalny’s Prison Sentence?
A swift and forceful uproar might not translate into harsher sanctions. Western governments are working out how to respond to Russia imprisoning Alexei Navalny. Francisco Seco / AP / TASS
The sentencing of Alexei Navalny to two years and eight months in a penal colony on what is widely seen as a politically motivated charge has resulted in some of the swiftest and most forceful condemnation of the Kremlin’s behavior since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Western leaders have been near unanimous in calling for Navalny’s “immediate and unconditional release,” as the U.S. State Department said in a statement issued minutes after his sentence was read out in court Tuesday.