The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, defended his controversial trip to Russia and indicated that European diplomats had contact with lawyers for the jailed opponent, Alexei Navalny.
"Diplomatic channels must remain open, not only to defuse crises or incidents, but to have direct exchanges, send firm and frank messages, now that relations are far from satisfactory," Borrell said.
The EU strongly condemned a Russian court's decision this week to jail anti-corruption militant Navalny, 44, to three years in prison.
That conviction sparked protests in recent weeks and the arrest of some 1,000 protesters.
In addition to what happened with Navalny, Borrell's visit divided the countries of the European Union, but the former Spanish foreign minister insisted that dialogue with Russia should be maintained despite bad relations.
Borrell's strategy was compromised when Russia expelled diplomats from Poland, Germany and Sweden
during his visit and hours after he met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Russia accuses diplomats of participating in "illegal protests" on January 23 in support of Navalni.
European countries firmly denied the Russian accusations.
Borrell said that he will
discuss
the trip to Russia with foreign ministers from the 27 EU member countries on February 22
and that EU leaders will discuss relations with Russia in March.
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