Borrell regrets that Putin disqualified him ‘directly and personally’

European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign and Common Security Policy Josep Borrell this Sunday in Nairobi expressed regret that Russian President Vladimir Putin disqualified him this week “directly and personally.”

Borrell spoke to news agency EFE in the Kenyan capital about the war in Ukraine after meeting this Saturday with Kenya’s president-elect William Ruto.

On Wednesday, Putin disqualified a high-ranking representative for his speech at a European security conference in Prague about European support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, which he allegedly called a “fascist regime.”

For his part, Putin said that if Borrell had lived in 1930s Spain during the coup d’état, “he would have fought on the side of the conspirators, because today he supports the same conspirators in Ukraine.” “, – he said at the VII Eastern Economic Forum., in Vladivostok.

The translation from Spanish into English in Prague read as follows: “At the moment we do not have a concrete plan on how to defeat fascist Russia and its fascist regime.”

But the former Spanish minister told EFE that these were not his words: “This is a montage done by the Russians because I didn’t say it. This is what the MP said. I answered the MP’s question.

For his part, the official representative of the European Commission for external relations, Peter Stano, noted that the official Russian agency TASS “did not say the words that can be heard in the translation”, but only mentioned “the statement of one of the members of the European Commission.” Parliament that used this expression.”

Borrell said he was still “satisfied” with these personal attacks and that Putin’s statements “concern him not personally, but politically.”

He added that the incident “is part of the Russian disinformation process, that is, what is not said so that it is easier to criticize.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia had asked Borrell’s office to transcribe his words in Spanish, but had not yet received them.

The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24 in Ukraine has already caused nearly 13 million people to flee — more than six million internally displaced people and almost seven million to neighboring countries, according to the latest UN figures. the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).

The Russian invasion was condemned by the international community as a whole, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia in everything from banking to energy to sports.

The UN has presented 5,587 civilian deaths and 7,890 injured as confirmed, stressing that the real numbers are much higher and will only be known after the conflict ends.