Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Threatens EU With Consequences For Sanctions Over Navalny

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2020) Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko held a meeting with European External Action Service Secretary General Helga-Maria Schmid on Thursday in Brussels, where he said that the confrontational policy of the European Union, including the new illegitimate sanctions against Russia over the alleged poisoning of opposition figure Alexey Navalny, would have serious consequences, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The sides discussed in detail the current state of relations between Russia and the European Union. It was emphasized that the EU's confrontational line, including the new illegitimate sanctions, would have serious consequences," the statement said.

The sides also discussed a range of actual issues of the international agenda.

Earlier in the day, the EU published an official decree on sanctions over the Navalny case against six Russian citizens and a scientific institution. The sanctions have affected Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia Sergey Kiriyenko and Presidential Envoy of the Siberian Federal District Sergey Menyaylo, among other officials.

The EU-Russia relations soured in late August, when Navalny was hospitalized in the Russian city of Omsk after he lost consciousness during a domestic flight. Though the opposition figure's team suspected he had been poisoned, Russian specialists did not find any traces of toxins in Navalny's blood and stated that the reason for his poor condition was a metabolic disorder. The politician's relatives insisted on his transportation to the Charite clinic in Berlin. Germany subsequently announced that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok family of toxins. In response, Russia has demanded that Germany provide evidence and make case materials available to Russian investigators.