France summons Russian ambassador over Navalny death
Paris has summoned Russia's ambassador to France after the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic prison, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said Monday during a visit to Argentina.
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Norway's foreign ministry has also said it is calling on its top Russian diplomat "for a talk" about Navalny's death.
"In the conversation, Norwegian views will be conveyed about Russian authorities' responsibility for the death and for facilitating a transparent investigation," Norway said, adding that the meeting had not yet taken place but would do so shortly.
It followed similar announcements earlier Monday by Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands that they have summoned diplomats from Russian embassies.
Navalny's death in a remote prison in the Arctic, where the 47-year-old was serving a 19-year sentence after surviving a 2020 poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin, was announced Friday.
"The regime of Vladimir Putin has once again shown its true nature," France's Séjourné said Monday.
Western countries have unanimously pointed blame at the Russian authorities for his death, three years into his sentence, which deprives the opposition of its most prominent figure a month ahead of presidential elections that are expected to enhance Putin's firm grip on power.
Political prisoners
Finland's foreign ministry on X, formerly Twitter, called for Russia "to release all political prisoners" while confirming it had called on the Russian ambassador Monday.
"It is terrible that Alexei Navalny has paid the ultimate price for his fight for a free and democratic Russia," Hanke Bruins Slot, the Netherlands' foreign affairs minister, posted on X. "We strongly urge Russia to release Navalny's body to his family and relatives."
Earlier Monday, Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said in a statement he had summoned Russia's ambassador, and called for the European Union to consider "a new sanctions regime targeting the internal repression in Russia."
On Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Madrid "demands that the circumstances" of the death be clarified.
Meanwhile in Moscow on Monday, dozens of Russians, closely watched by police, left flower tributes at a monument to honour the memory of Alexei Navalny.
Several ambassadors, including France's envoy Pierre Levy, also went to the "Wall of Grief" opposite the Lubyanka building that was the headquarters of the KGB intelligence police in Soviet times and now houses the FSB modern-day equivalent.
The "Wall of Grief" was erected in memory of people who died during Soviet-era repression.
EU reaction
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya on Monday met EU foreign ministers in Brussels, where she had been invited after the death of her husband triggered Western outrage.
"I will continue the work of Alexei Navalny. I will continue to fight for the freedom of our country," Navalnaya said. "And I call on you to stand by me."
She spoke as the Kremlin said it had no details about his death, while his mother Lyudmila was denied access to his body for a third day.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pledged to hold Putin to account for Navalny's death after meeting his widow.
The EU has already imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow, including on Putin, over the invasion of Ukraine. Officials concede it will be difficult to take significant further action.
We expressed the EU’s deepest condolences to Yulia Navalnaya
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 19, 2024
Vladimir Putin & his regime will be held accountable for the death of Alexei @navalny
As Yulia said, Putin is not Russia. Russia is not Putin
We will continue our support to Russia’s civil society & independent media pic.twitter.com/LbXNerR9nI
(with AFP)
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