Eurotopics.net

Contradictory reports circulated on Tuesday after the disappearance of Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, and two of her colleagues. According to the Belarusian authorities Kolesnikova is in Ukraine. Acquaintances of the 38-year-old, however, have said that she was arrested. What consequences will this have for the opposition and for the regime in Minsk?

In the run-up to the eighth round of negotiations on future EU-UK relations this week the British Prime Minister has threatened to break off talks if an agreement is not reached by October 15, indicating that a no-deal Brexit would be a positive outcome for the British. London also seems to be planning laws that run counter to the 2019 agreement with Brussels. Where will these tactics lead?

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo's Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti have concluded an economic agreement in Washington brokered by the US. Under the agreement Kosovo will become part of a free trade zone initiated by Serbia. However, the paper also contains a passage stating that both countries recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move or open their embassies there. Journalists attempt to interpret the consequences.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has woken up from his artificial coma at the Berlin Charité hospital and, according to his doctors, is responsive. Meanwhile, the debate about stopping construction of the almost completed Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline is becoming increasingly heated. German Chancellor Angela Merkel now no longer rules out this course of action. But not all commentators think it is a good idea.

Solidarność, the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, was approved in Poland 40 years ago, paving the way for the overthrow of communism in Europe. Its leader and former Polish president Lech Wałęsa is a thorn in the side of today's PiS government whose anti-liberal course he has repeatedly criticised. Forty years on, Poland is at odds about whether Wałęsa is a hero or a communist collaborator.