Two years have passed since the assassination attempt through poisoning of the Russian opposition politician, Alexei Navalny. 

The EU continues to condemn in the strongest possible terms the attempt to assassinate Mr Navalny through poisoning using a military chemical nerve agent of the “Novichok” group. We call on the Russian Federation to abide by their commitments under the Chemical Weapons Conventions to investigate it in full transparency and without further delay, and to fully cooperate with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The EU has responded by imposing restrictive measures on six senior Russian officials and one entity over the poisoning.

We deplore the outlawing of Mr Navalny’s organisation and his regional offices as so-called “extremist groups”, as well as continuous persecution and imprisonment of Mr Navalny and his team members. 

Moreover, we deplore the recent unjustified disciplinary measures taken against Mr Navalny by the prison authorities and we hold the Russian authorities responsible for Mr Navalny’s safety and health in the strict regime colony.

We regret to witness that Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine has only amplified Russia’s internal repression and systematic crackdowns on the Kremlin's most vocal critics and civil society as a whole.

The European Union reiterates its call on Russia to fulfil its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, including to comply with the interim measure of the European Court of Human Rights requiring that Mr Navalny be immediately released from prison.