Kyiv, Chisinau and Tbilisi signal EU aims as Tsikhanouskaya lobbies Washington
A look back at 20 July 2021, when a joint statement from three presidents and a sanctions appeal from Belarus's opposition leader shaped the region's political agenda.
What did the politics of Eastern Europe look like on 20 July 2021? Two developments, one from the day before and one from that day itself, pointed in a similar direction: towards closer ties with Western institutions and more pressure on Minsk.
On 19 July 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili issued a joint statement. In it they announced their intention to have their countries pursue closer relations with the European Union. The move was effectively a rebuke to Russia, as reported at the time.
On 20 July 2021, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was in Washington, D.C. During the visit she asked the Biden administration to impose sanctions on companies in Belarus. The aim, she said, was to put pressure on the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The two events were separate, but they fell within a day of each other. One set out three governments' European aspirations. The other was an opposition leader's appeal for economic pressure on a neighbouring government.
