Eurotopics.net

When fighters of the Wagner mercenary organisation advanced towards Moscow on the weekend, Vladimir Putin spoke of treason and threatened harsh punishment. A short time later there was a turn of events: the mutiny was called off and Putin guaranteed Prigozhin and his soldiers impunity. Commentators discuss what this back and forth means for Wagner's future.

The staff of the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD) are on strike to protest the appointment of editor-in-chief Geoffroy Lejeune, the former head of the far-right magazine Valeurs actuelles. His appointment comes as the multimedia group Vivendi - whose boss Vincent Bolloré is known for turning media into mouthpieces for right-wing polemics - is finalising its takeover of the JDD's publisher Lagardère.

Since the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine has been precarious. The International Atomic Energy Agency's report of 21 June states that certain efforts will be necessary to continue to meet the plant's demands for cooling water. Other problems include ongoing fighting in the area, the power supply and mines. Ukrainian media are divided over how dangerous the situation could become.

Robert Sesselmann, candidate of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is listed in the 2022 report put out by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist group, has won the run-off election for the office of district leader in Sonneberg, Thuringia. This is the first time the party has won such an important office in local government. Sesselmann received 52.8 percent of the vote, while the CDU candidate Jürgen Köpper, who was supported by the SPD, the Left Party, the Greens and the FDP, garnered 47.2 percent. Europe's press takes a closer look.

After the aborted advance on Moscow, the mercenaries of the Wagner organisation have been given the choice between joining the regular Russian army or following their leader Yevgeny Progozhin to Belarus. The uprising is said to have ended also thanks to the mediation of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenka. Commentators discuss the implications of Wagner's relocation.