The Biden administration and the European Union have to decide in the coming weeks whether or not to tighten the sanctions against the Myanmar military regime after Monday’s coup, and against Russia as a new trial of dissident Alexei Navalny begins today.
- In a statement after the Myanmar coup, U.S. President Joe Biden called on the “international community” to “come together,” and pledge to reverse the lifting of previous economic sanctions that occurred as the country seemed to be transitioning toward democracy in the last decade.
- The United Nations Security Council was due to meet in closed session on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
- A Russian court was to decide on Tuesday whether dissident Alexei Navalny should serve a 3½ prison sentence for absconding parole while he was treated for poisoning in a German hospital.
- The nerve agent poisoning in Siberia, by agents linked to Russia’s security services, was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny said in allegations the Kremlin has denied.
- Both the U.S. and Europe have called for Navalny’s immediate release and started informal talks about possible new sanctions if Navalny was sent back to jail.
The outlook: As the Biden administration tests its diplomatic muscles, it will have to try to exert influence over its European allies, who are often divided on the opportunity of economic sanctions and on which policies to adopt toward Putin’s Russia.
Biden mentioned Navalny shortly after he became president, during his first phone call with Putin, so the Russian president is by now aware of the change of tone in Washington. Sanctions are already in place against Russia for its annexation of Crimea, and against Russian individuals involved in the nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury, U.K.
As for Myanmar, western powers will have to tread a fine line to avoid potential sanctions pushing the military regime closer to China. And the new rulers have already been slapped by one of the harshest possible sanctions of the 21st century: A Facebook ban.
From the archives (November 2020): Biden chooses veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as secretary of state. Here’s why Europe should cheer
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