What did Ukraine's expulsion of two Iranians reveal by 5 April 2018?
A look back at reports from late March and early April 2018 on a missile-purchase attempt in Kyiv and a language-in-schools dispute in Latvia.
What was the picture on 5 April 2018? Two reports from the preceding days set the tone, both concerning sanctions and the politics of security.
On 30 March 2018, the government of Ukraine stated that it had expelled two Iranians earlier that year. It said they had tried to buy a Kh-31 missile in Kyiv, in violation of United Nations sanctions. The statement presented the expulsion as enforcement of an international sanctions regime on Ukrainian territory.
On 3 April 2018, a separate story emerged from the region. Russian MPs called for sanctions against Latvia in response to plans to make Latvian mandatory for all students in the country's secondary schools. Latvia's population is a quarter ethnic Russian.
The two cases differ in substance. One concerns the application of UN sanctions by Ukraine; the other concerns a call for sanctions over education policy in a neighbouring state. Together they show how sanctions featured in public debate in the region in early April 2018, whether as a tool of enforcement or as a threatened response to domestic policy.
