The death of Alexeï Navalny is on the agenda of the Council of the European Union. This Monday, February 19, the foreign ministers welcome Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of the opponent of Vladimir Putin’s regime who died Friday, February 16 in a prison in the Russian Arctic. The latter was serving a 19-year sentence there for “extremism”.
A few hours after the announcement of her husband’s death on Friday, Yulia Navalnaya spoke at the Munich Security Conference. “I would like Putin, all his staff, all his entourage, all his government, his friends, to know that they will be punished for what they did to our country, to my family and to my husband,” she said. then declared.
At the same time, international reactions multiplied to the announcement of the death of the Russian opponent. Vladimir Putin “fears nothing more than the dissidence of his own people”, reacted Ursula von der Leyen. “Let us unite in our fight to safeguard the freedom and security of those who dare to speak out against autocracy,” added the President of the European Commission.
Support the Russian opposition
On Sunday evening, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell explained on his X account that the presence of Yulia Navalnaya during the Council meeting would be an opportunity to send “a strong message of support to the fighters of the freedom in Russia and [to honor] the memory of Alexei Navalny”.
Arriving in Brussels this morning, the head of European diplomacy also announced a proposal to pay tribute to the Russian opponent. The Spaniard wants to rename the EU’s global human rights sanctions regime to the “Navalny regime”. Established in December 2020, it allows the sanctioning of natural or legal persons, whether state or not, who have violated human rights. Sanctions ranging from a ban on entering the territory of the European Union to the freezing of assets.
This article is originally published on touteleurope.eu
