HELSINKI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2021) A European Parliament lawmaker from Estonia, Riho Terras, is planning to send a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, proposing to dismiss EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell after the latter's recent visit to Moscow, the Postimees newspaper reported.
Borrell visited Moscow from February 4 to 6. During the visit, the EU top diplomat had a wide-ranging discussion on the EU-Russia relations and the global geopolitical landscape with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The official also met with representatives of Russian civil society organizations.
According to the news outlet, Terras started collecting signatures from EU lawmakers in support of his letter during the weekend, asking to make it known by Monday whether or not they will co-sign it.
"There are currently over 20 supporters, including some very important people. I hope that everyone with conscience and understanding that Josep Borrell's visit to Moscow was a very big mistake and a complete failure of the European diplomacy, joins the letter," the lawmaker told Postimees, claiming that Borrell lied when he said that the EU countries had not demanded sanctions in response to the arrest of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny
In late January, the European Parliament adopted a resolution, which urged the bloc to strengthen sanctions against Russia in the wake of Navalny's detention in Moscow on arrival at Sheremetyevo International Airport from Germany, where he was treated for alleged poisoning.
The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service earlier warned it would arrest him for probation violations as he was previously found guilty of committing two administrative offenses. Later, a Moscow court canceled Navalny's suspended sentence in the 2014 Yves Rocher fraud case over multiple probation breaches and replaced it with 3.5 years in jail. If his defense loses appeal, the opposition activist will spend 2 years and 8 months in custody, as the time already spent under house arrest will be counted as time served.
