Page 46 - bne_March 2021_20210303

46 I Eastern Europe bne March 2021
Russia adopted a new hard line with the West where it will no longer tolerate any attempts to bully it via sanctions.
Russia’s Lavrov threatens to break off diplomatic relations with EU
if sanctioned
Ben Aris in Berlin
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on February 12 that Moscow is ready to sever relations with the EU if sanctions are imposed that threaten its economy in connection with the jailing of anti- corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny last month.
"We do not want to isolate ourselves from international life, but we have to be ready for it," Lavrov said during
a TV interview.
"We assume that we are ready [to break relations] if we see again – as we have
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often felt – that in some areas sanctions are imposed, creating threats to our economy, including in the most acute spheres,” Lavrov added.
The comments came after a meeting between Lavrov and the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, who was slated by observers for failing to hold Russia to account for the arrest and jailing of Navalny.
Lavrov’s comments confirm bne IntelliNews' analysis “Kremlin lays out new rules of the game for post-Trump relations,” that Russia used the meeting,
and the humiliation of Borrell, to send
a very clear message that it was taking
a new hard line with the West. Lavrov has since indicated that while Russia is prepared to negotiate with the West over things like arms control deals, it is not prepared to accept a dual policy where threats of sanctions are made in parallel.
After the Borrell visit Lavrov told the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a tweet that an offer to sign a commitment to nuclear arms reduction agreement was “still on the table”
but explicitly linked that to a second commitment to “not interfere in each