BRUSSELS: The European Union will hold a video call on Monday with allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, joined by envoys from Britain, the United States, Canada and Ukraine, after Russia expelled diplomats from EU states last week, diplomats said.
The meeting at 1200 GMT is likely to be the first forum for the West to consider any possible joint response to Navalny’s jailing last week and Friday’s expulsions, which took place while the EU’s top diplomat was visiting Moscow.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a blog late on Sunday that he had learned of the expulsion of the diplomats from Germany, Poland and Sweden via social media during his talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday.
Borrell said the expulsions by Moscow, his fruitless appeals to halt them, and a denial of his request to visit Navalny had cemented his view that “Europe and Russia are drifting apart”.
“Russia is progressively disconnecting itself from Europe and…