Domestic Politics
Vladimir Putin has appointed the Acting Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council. This will essentially make Medvedev the vice president of the country. [Meduza]
Czech President MiloÅ¡ Zeman plans to increase the monthly wage from 13,350 crowns to 15,000 crowns. This is a trend across Europe. In 2019, France increased its monthly minimum wage by 2019 by €100, while Spain increased its minimum wage by 22% in the same year. Portugal, too, increased the gross monthly minimum wage to €600. Even countries with the highest minimum wages are following suit, such as Luxembourg and Ireland. [Prague Post]
International Relations
During her visit to Chile, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid discussed increasing cooperation between the two states in terms of digital and cyber security, and climate issues. [Baltic Times]
Poland expects that Brexit will impact its export industry as 8% of its exports go to the United Kingdom. It is expected that UK imports as a whole could decrease by 11-19%, with Polish exports expected to decrease by 3.2%. [Warsaw Business Journal]
A US-brokered deal has resulted in Kosovo and Serbia agreeing to launch direct flights to each other's countries. There have been no flights between the two countries since the 1998 Kosovo War. [RTK Live]
Society
In his address to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the need to "preserve" and "increase" Russia's population. He emphasized that the current birthrate is not sufficient to keep the population stable, calling on Russians to increase the current fertility rate of 1.5 to 1.7 by 2024. [Russia Insider]
Hungary reported Europe's second-highest-after Latvia-rate of growth in knowledge-intensive jobs, increasing from 321,300 in 2012 to 424,900 in 2019. Knowledge-intensive jobs are typically found in the technological, pharmaceutical, manufacturing sectors. [Budapest Business Journal]
Science & Technology
Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to New Delhi for the Raisina Dialogue. They discussed technological copoeration through measures such as co-sponsored hackathons. [Baltic Times]
Image Source: The Moscow Times