Italy’s political parties will participate in a procession in memory of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who was reported dead on Saturday, though Matteo Salvini’s Lega, known for its pro-Putin tendencies, first responded to the news by saying it did not want to “point any fingers”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz allegedly opposed the idea of incumbent European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen running for NATO’s secretary-general post, according to German media.

Denmark will send its entire stock of ammunition to Kyiv, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced, becoming the first to do so and appealing to other European nations to do more to help Ukraine.

More than 400 people have been detained at events across 32 Russian cities since the death of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most formidable opponent, according to rights group OVD-Info, as Russians continued to gather and lay flowers.

In this week's edition: A glimpse in the Munich Security Conference corridors, European defence gets more meat, and Georgia wants to catch up with their fellow EU membership contenders.

EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Sunday (18 February) said the situation in the Israel-occupied West Bank posed a major obstacle to finding a long-term solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Europeans should focus on ramping up military capabilities and supporting Ukraine instead of worrying about who will be the next US president, outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, a top contender to be the next NATO chief, told Euractiv.

A former German spy chief who was sacked after being accused of averting his eyes to the threat posed by the far-right founded a new right-wing party on Saturday (17 February), holding an inaugural party congress on a boat near Germany's old capital Bonn.

The former director of the EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, announced Saturday (17 February) he had joined France's far-right National Rally (RN).

Georgia plans to catch up with Ukraine and Moldova, which are farther along their EU accession path, and the key will be holding orderly elections in October, forming a pro-European government, and implementing EU recommendations, President Salome Zourabishvili told Euractiv in an interview.

Hundreds of exiled anti-war Russians rallied across European capitals, often in front of Russian embassies, to mourn the death of Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic, Alexei Navalny, and vent their anger at what they said was a murder of their pride and hope. 

Ukraine's fightback against invading Moscow's troops is being limited by a lack of long-range missiles and artillery shells, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday (17 February) as he warned of the consequences of Russian victory.

The next European Commission should include a dedicated defence portfolio, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday (17 February) - and interest in the idea seems to be growing among European stakeholders.

Europe must strengthen its ability to defend itself and deter would-be aggressors regardless of who wins the upcoming US elections or how the war in Ukraine turns out, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday (17 February).

With its long-awaited defence industry programme, the European Commission looks to use the bloc’s budget to restructure its defence industrial base, showing determination to ramp up sustainable production across the continent and become more independent from other suppliers such as the US.

US President Joe Biden said he was outraged and joined other Western leaders in criticising Russia over Alexei Navalny's death, blaming it on "something that Putin and his thugs did."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a security pact with France on Friday (16 February), hours after securing a similar deal with Germany, as Paris hardened its tone on Russia’s threat to the West.

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday (17 February), handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kyiv's failed summer counter-offensive.

Ambitious new nature and biodiversity policies are needed, say environmental stakeholders. Activists are calling for the European Commission’s proposed Nature Restoration Law to set strong biodiversity targets, just as the Green Deal set robust climate targets.

The European Commission has approved Germany’s €4 billion scheme to green industrial production by deliberately inflating carbon prices, although the sum is a far cry from Berlin's initial vision.