Three presidents set out a shared course towards the EU
A look back at a joint statement issued in the days before 23 July 2021 by the leaders of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
What did Kyiv's pledge on closer ties with Brussels look like in the days before 23 July 2021? It came as part of a joint statement rather than a solo declaration.
On 19 July 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili announced their intention to have their countries pursue closer relations with the European Union. The statement was reported as effectively a rebuke to Russia.
The following day, 20 July 2021, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, visiting Washington, D.C., asked the Biden administration to impose sanctions on companies in Belarus. Her aim, as reported, was to put pressure on the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Together, the two developments showed how the region's politics were being argued in external capitals in the week leading up to 23 July 2021: one through a coordinated message from three presidents, the other through a direct appeal to a foreign administration.
