'We don't want to isolate ourselves': Russia threatens to cut ties as EU mulls sanctions

Amidst reports of the European Union (EU) mulling sanctions on Russia, country’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was ready to completely cut ties with the bloc. Despite a “hopeful” recent visit to the Russian capital by EU’s top diplomat Joseph Borrel, the relationship between the two has strained in recent times. Tensions further escalated after the Vladimir Putin administration detained and sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny on February 2 sparking outrage.

On February 2, the 44-year-old was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for violating terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from the nerve-agent poisoning. During the hearing, Putin’s most staunch critic said that the Russian President is nothing but an “underpants poisoner”. His arrest has caused nationwide protests prompting authorities to take to fines and detentions to quell the protests. 

"We don't want to isolate ourselves from the world, but we need to be ready for that. If you want peace, prepare for war," foreign minister Lavrov told media reporters while talking about potential EU sanctions.

The Russian administration had previously, warned the EU over taking any "rash steps" asserting that new sanctions "will inevitably be followed by a proportionate response". EU foreign ministers are set to meet on February 22 to discuss the sanctions. However, Borrell had already called on the 27 member bloc to impose tough sanctions on Russia.

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EU Russia relationship

While both the European Union and Russian Federation share several contracts on trade, politics, personal data protection and implementation of JCPOA, their ties have been severed since 2014. Primary causes include Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, support for rebel groups in eastern Ukraine, policies in the neighbourhood, disinformation campaigns and negative internal developments. Putin administration’s intervention in Syria, Libya and sub-Saharan Africa have also irked the bloc promoting it renew several sanctions against Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russia is gripped with both a civil crisis owing to Alexei Navalny's arrest and health crisis pertaining to an increasing caseload of COVID-19. Last week, the country’s statistics agency revealed that population of Russia has shrunk for the first time in the past 15 years, With the pandemic pushing the country into crisis, experts attributed the decline primarily to COVID-19 induced deaths, low birth rate and increased migration. 

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