Significant from @JosepBorrellF blog just out. Suggests #Russia may pay a cost for what happened in Moscow. In the past, Brussels has been among those pushing to ease ties, increase collaboration. Here’s the intro -1-

“I went to Moscow this week to test, through principled diplomacy, whether the Russian government was interested in addressing differences and reversing the negative trend in our relations. The reaction I received points visibly in a different direction.” -2-

“An aggressively-staged press conference and the expulsion of three EU diplomats during my visit indicate that the Russian authorities did not want to seize this opportunity to have a more constructive dialogue with the EU.” @JosepBorrellF -3-

“At times, the discussion with my Russian counterpart reached high levels of tension, as I called for Mr. Navalny’s immediate and unconditional release, as well as for a full and impartial investigation into his assassination attempt.” -4-

And @JosepBorrellF says he learned via social media of expulsion of EU diplomats at end of Lavrov meeting...”I asked Minister Lavrov to reverse this decision, but to no avail.” -5-

“My meeting with Minister Lavrov & the messages sent by Russian authorities during this visit confirmed that Europe and Russia are drifting apart. It seems that Russia is progressively disconnecting itself from Europe and looking at democratic values as an existential threat”-6-

Magnitsky alert: “We will discuss these issues with my fellow EU foreign ministers. As ever, it will be for member states to decide...and yes, these could include sanctions. And we also have another tool in this respect, thanks to the...EU human’s rights sanctions regime.” -7-

In conclusion then, after a bitter trip to Moscow, @JosepBorrellF calls for EU to draw consequences on negative drift of EU-Russia relations. Here’s the question: will Paris and Berlin listen? -8-