Opinion | Heat of Western sanctions will only force Russia and China into closer embrace

A long-time target of US and EU sanctions, Russia will soon face the menacing threat of new restrictions. On Monday, an agreement to impose new punitive measures gained the full support of 27 EU foreign ministers, following Franco-German accusations that Russian authorities were behind the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

If Russia has been a constant target of sanctions – not least since the 2014 Crimea crisis – for China, until recently it was an experience best forgotten. Most sanctions against China were imposed in response to the crackdown on Tiananmen protests in 1989. Other restrictions enacted in the 1990s and 2000s followed China’s alleged assistance for Pakistan, Iran and North Korea in the procurement of weapons of mass destruction.

The report by the chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), just states that the poisonous substance found in Navalny’s samples was “similar” to two Novichok chemicals. Russia has stressed that the report makes no reference to Moscow as a mastermind.

Even though the OPCW report does not directly accuse Russia, and neither Germany nor France has yet provided evidence of Russian state involvement, a joint German-French communiqué states that “there is no other plausible explanation for Mr Navalny’s poisoning than a Russian involvement and responsibility”. Britain and the Netherlands have backed Berlin and Paris. Such bellicose rhetoric speaks of a prejudiced view.