Home › World › What did EU sanctions and a killing reveal?
What did EU sanctions and a killing reveal?
Summary
A look back at two reported developments in Russia's and Moldova's neighbourhood in the days before 22 July 2023.
What was happening on the edges of the post-Soviet space as of 22 July 2023? Two developments in the preceding days stood out, one involving the European Union and Russia, the other involving Transnistria.
On 20 July 2023, the European Union imposed sanctions on the director of the Russian prison where opposition leader Alexei Navalny was incarcerated. The measure fell within the framework of Russia–European Union relations and targeted an individual official tied directly to Navalny's detention, rather than the Russian state at large.
Four days earlier, on 16 July 2023, Oleg Khorzhan, a Transnistrian communist and opposition leader, was assassinated in a stabbing attack in his office.
Two cases, one theme
The two events were separate, in different places and involving different actors. What they shared was the position of opposition figures: one imprisoned, with a European response aimed at the official in charge of his custody, and one killed at his workplace.
No link between the events was reported at the time, and none should be inferred. Taken together, they show how the treatment of opposition figures in Russia and in Transnistria was drawing attention in mid-July 2023.
