Eurotopics.net

Poland's President Andrzej Duda has given his approval for the establishment of a commission to investigate Russian political influence in the country. Critics suspect the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party of wanting to use the corresponding law to target opposition leader Donald Tusk. Commentators examine potential motives and consequences.

Moscow and Minsk agreed on Thursday that nuclear weapons over which Russia retains control are to be stationed in Belarus. According to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka the transfer has already begun. Commentators take different views of how much of a threat the move poses.

A group of nine EU members is calling for national veto rights to be abolished and replaced by majority decisions in foreign and defence policy in order to speed up decision-making processes. Hungary and Poland are apparently among the countries that want to stop the initiative, but others may follow.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is well known for his criticism of the Russian military leadership. But in a recent interview he used words that are unusually harsh even for his standards. An incompetent military elite has "fucked up" the war in Ukraine, and there could now even be a revolution, he said. After the Pyrrhic victory in Bakhmut commentators ask just what the mercenary leader could be getting at.

The legal extension of marriage to same-sex couples in Estonia was already part of the coalition negotiations between election winner Kaja Kallas' Reform Party, the Social Democrats and the centrist Estonia 200 party. The new government has introduced a proposal to this effect in parliament, where it is now the subject of heated debate. We take a look at the comments in the national press.