What Moldova's vaccine donation and Lithuania's fence showed in July 2021
A look back at two regional developments reported just before 11 July 2021, on vaccines for Moldova and a border fence in Lithuania.
What did the region's neighbours face as of 11 July 2021? Two reports from the preceding days point to very different pressures: a public health effort in Moldova and a border dispute between Lithuania and Belarus.
Vaccines for Moldova
On 10 July 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that the United States had donated 500,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to Moldova. Moldovan President Maia Sandu praised the United States for the deployment of the vaccines to her country.
A fence on the Belarusian border
On 9 July 2021, Lithuania began building a $48 million fence along its border with Belarus. A week earlier, Lithuania had declared a state of emergency because of a rise in the number of undocumented migrants, mostly Syrians, crossing from Belarus. Lithuania accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of deliberately trying to destabilise the country by encouraging and allowing the illegal crossings.
Taken together, the two reports show how external support and border security were both on the regional agenda in the days leading up to 11 July 2021.
