Russia warns EU it could cut ties over sanctions

Russia is ready to sever ties with the EU if the bloc imposes new, economically painful sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says.

The EU has raised the prospect of further sanctions amid a row over the treatment of the jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

When an interviewer asked if Russia was heading for a "break" with the EU, Lavrov said "we're ready for that".

"If you want peace, prepare for war," he said.

He said a break in ties could be triggered by EU sanctions that "create risks for our economy, including in the most sensitive areas".

"We don't want to isolate ourselves from world affairs, but we have to be prepared for that." He was speaking on the Russian YouTube channel Solovyov Live.

In the past week Russia and the EU have expelled three of each other's diplomats in a tit-for-tat dispute centering on the Navalny case.

Russia went first, a week ago, saying three EU diplomats had attended an illegal pro-Navalny protest - an allegation rejected by the EU. The Russian announcement came during a visit by EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell.

More EU sanctions?

Borrell told MEPs in the European Parliament on Tuesday that the next step "could include sanctions, and I will put forward concrete proposals".

Last October the EU imposed sanctions on six top Russian officials and a Russian chemical weapons research centre, accusing them of direct involvement in the poisoning of Navalny in August. The attack with the weapons-grade nerve agent Novichok nearly killed him.

Many of President Vladimir Putin's close aides are now under EU and US sanctions, that is, asset freezes and travel bans. They date back to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Dozens of MEPs have called for Mr Borrell to resign, saying his Moscow trip was "humiliating", but EU leaders have not backed them.

He told MEPs the Kremlin had left "no opening for democratic rule of law". It was crushing any alternatives to President Putin, he said. "They are merciless in stifling any such attempts."

(Source: BBC)