Eurotopics.net

The pandemic is also having an indirect negative impact on people's health: from mental health issues caused by social restrictions to a registered excess mortality that has nothing to do with Covid-19 infections. Policymakers need to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon and find ways to deal with it, commentators urge.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has threatened that Russia will intervene in Donbass to protect its citizens. Hundreds of thousands of people living in the region hold Russian passports. Fighting there has escalated in recent days, and Russia has deployed troops to the border with Ukraine. Moscow says it plans to hold a military exercise there, but Kiev fears a military offensive. Commentators take stock of the situation.

The CDU and its Bavarian sister party the CSU are to meet today to discuss who should become their candidate to succeed Angela Merkel in the 2021 parliamentary elections. The leaders of the two Christian Democratic parties, Armin Laschet and Markus Söder, have both declared their willingness to run for the post of German chancellor. Europe's press discusses Söder's chances.

Police reporter and blogger Giorgos Karaivaz was murdered in broad daylight in an Athens suburb on Friday. Two hooded perpetrators on a moped shot the 52-year-old dead. Karaivaz was an investigative journalist specialising in covering organised crime and its links to politics. Commentators see problematic dynamics in play that go beyond this case.