While opposition leader Alexei Navalny is back on trial again, Moscow is stepping up the poker game with the West.
Russia will cut relations with the EU if it imposes sanctions again, which seems almost inevitable.
Today, the poisoned opposition leader Navalny is again on trial in Moscow. This time in a defamation case, for which he risks a fine or community service, no jail time this time. Previously, Navalny was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.
The reason was that he had violated the conditions of a suspended prison sentence. He had not reported to the court in Moscow during the treatment for poisoning in a German hospital.
Meanwhile, the Russian government is putting pressure on Europe. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov threatens to cut diplomatic relations with the European Union if the Union imposes new economic sanctions in the Navalny case.
Lavrov accuses the EU of “hysteria” in the case.