BRUSSELS, February 19. /TASS/. The European Union believes that Russia must allow a "transparent international investigation" into Alexey Navalny’s death, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement.
"Russia must allow an independent and transparent international investigation into the circumstances of his sudden death. The EU will spare no efforts to hold Russia’s political leadership and authorities to account, in close coordination with our partners; and impose further costs for their actions, including through sanctions," the statement reads.
Borrell pointed out that the EU was "outraged" by Navalny’s death. He added that EU foreign ministers had expressed their condolences to his wife Yulia and their children in Brussels on Monday.
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region said on February 16 that Navalny had died in a penal colony. According to the agency, he felt sick after a walk and fainted. Doctors arrived immediately but their more than 30-minute resuscitation efforts failed. Almost simultaneously, the leaders of key Western countries and international organizations issued statements trying to blame Navalny’s death on the Russian authorities. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov slammed the West’s allegations as rabid and completely unacceptable, given that there is no official information about the cause of his death.