Five pressure points on Europe's eastern edge

What was happening around Europe's eastern flank on 18 June 2024? In the days leading up to that date, a cluster of reports pointed to pressure applied through sanctions, courts, diplomacy and military signalling.

Sanctions widen

On 12 June 2024, the United States expanded secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions that had done business with more than 4,500 US-sanctioned Russian entities. The same day, Washington imposed sanctions on Evghenia Guțul, the pro-Russian governor of Moldova's Gagauzia region. Together, the two measures targeted both Russia's financial links abroad and a pro-Russian figure in one of Ukraine's neighbours.

Migration disputes inside the EU

On 13 June 2024, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary €200 million and set a daily penalty of €1 million for failing to follow the European Union's asylum laws and for illegally deporting migrants.

On 17 June 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk ordered Germany to explain a recorded incident in which German police appeared to abandon a migrant family in Osinów Dolny, just east of the Germany–Poland border. The episode put migration handling on the agenda between two neighbours.

Signalling far from Ukraine

On 13 June 2024, a Russian warship and a nuclear-powered submarine carried out drills in the Caribbean Sea simulating a missile strike on enemy ships. They had passed near the coast of Florida to reach Havana, Cuba.

What the cluster shows

The reports cover different arenas: financial restrictions on Russia, a Moldovan region's leadership, EU asylum law enforcement, a Polish-German border dispute and Russian naval activity near the United States. Each stands on its own, but taken together they show the range of fronts on which governments and institutions were acting in the days before 18 June 2024.