Home › Politics › Two appeals on 20 July 2021 shaped regional politics
Two appeals on 20 July 2021 shaped regional politics
Summary
A look back at a joint pledge by three presidents on closer EU ties and a Belarusian opposition leader's call for sanctions in Washington.
What did the region's politics look like on 20 July 2021? Two developments, one dated 19 July and one on 20 July, pointed the same way: towards pressure on Moscow's closest partners and rivals alike.
On 19 July 2021, Moldovan President Maia Sandu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili announced in a joint statement that their countries intended to pursue closer relations with the European Union. The announcement was effectively a rebuke to Russia, as reported at the time.
On 20 July 2021, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, visiting Washington, D.C., asked the Biden administration to impose sanctions on companies in Belarus. The aim was to put pressure on the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Two tracks, one direction
The two events were separate. One was a coordinated declaration by three sitting presidents; the other was a request from an opposition figure to a foreign government. Yet both sought outside support, from Brussels in the first case and Washington in the second, to shift the political position of countries in Russia's neighbourhood.
The statement by Kyiv, Chisinau and Tbilisi set out an intention rather than a concrete step. Tsikhanouskaya's request likewise remained a request on that date.
