Russian Ambassador on Navalny case: We have every reason to doubt any "impartial investigation" by EU

The Russian Ambassador in Bucharest, Valery Kuzmin, says Moscow has "every reason" to doubt an "impartial investigation" by the European Union into Alexei Navalny case.

"It is very strange to hear that the European Union as a whole or countries of the European Union, one after another, including Romania, have demanded, in fact insisted, that Russia violate Russian law. How many times have we not heard and will we not hear statements about justice, about the rule of law, about the fact that democratic principles are inviolable in this area? What are we talking about in the Navalny case? My younger son would say that this case is a performance of transparency and extraordinary humanism," the Russian diplomat told a press conference on Wednesday.

According to him, Alexei Navalny was "the only citizen in Russia who enjoyed the privilege of not being in prison even for a day, despite two successive convictions."

"In principle, it is arrogance that Mr. Navalny has become a kind of candidate to becoming a sacred victim in Russia, to launch something similar to the revolution in Maidan, Kiev, seven years ago. We remember very well the time when Ukrainian law enforcement followed the line of extreme tolerance and humanness, interacting with protesters or being unarmed in front of protesters," Kuzmin said.

He claimed that the European Union had "politicized" Alexei Navalny's case.

"We have every reason to doubt any impartial investigation by the European Union, which itself has intensely politicized Navalny's case, in fact created it as a political issue. It was simply a criminal case. Now, in Europe's view, it is a big political problem. If you think that Mr. Navalny is the leader of the opposition, he is a politician, take advantage of the progressive experience and practice of his colleagues in Spain. They talk about the arrest and imprisonment of one of the leaders of the Catalan movement - 'We have no political prisoners, we have politicians in prison'. If you consider Mr. Navalny a politician, then note that he is not a political prisoner, but an imprisoned politician," said Valery Kuzmin.

The Kremlin's main critic, Alexei Navalny, was arrested on January 17 and sentenced to almost three years in prison. According to Navalny, the Kremlin is trying to silence him by this arrest, after failing to kill him in August by poisoning him with a Novichok-class toxic agent, accusations rejected by the Russian authorities.

AGERPRES

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