With its latest double breach of norms of international behavior – poisoning the opposition leader Alexei Navalny and embracing the discredited Belarusian autocrat, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka – Russia has managed to unite Europe in outrage.

On September 17, the European Parlia­ment approved, by a large majority, a harsh resolution not only demanding a strong response to the Navalny case but also calling for a new strategy on relations with the openly hostile Russia (Neza­visimaya Gazeta, September 17).

Russian propaganda lashed out viciously against this firm stance and predicted that a confrontation with Russia would destroy the European project (RIA Novosti, Septem­ber 19).