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Before fleeing Russia in August, Pavel Filatyev penned a bombshell exposé of how things were going for his paratrooper unit in the war in Ukraine. "The sooner Russian citizens at very least stop being afraid to say 'war' and 'we don't want war,' the sooner it will end," he said in an interview.

The mother of a Russian prisoner says she hasn't heard from her son in two months. A fellow inmate was reportedly killed in Ukraine after being recruited to fight for invading Russian forces there. She fears her child could face the same fate.

Because of their friendly ties to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin, the Russian bikers, the Night Wolves, face roadblocks across the EU. But in Bulgaria, a branch of the gang is cruising along, meeting and greeting Russian officials and blessed by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

An annual cultural event called the Essay Of Victory is due to be held soon around Russia and Central Asia to test participants’ knowledge of World War II. But one Kazakh city is refusing to take part, calling it Russian state propaganda that is inappropriate with war raging in Ukraine.

Mick Ryan, a retired major general in the Australian Army and a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, explains the strategy under way for Ukrainian forces as they push forward in the south. 

Amid venomous outbursts from his father in support of the war on Ukraine, former President Dmitry Medvedev’s 27-year-old son joined the ruling United Russia party this summer. Current Time and Meduza take a look at Ilya Medvedev as he emerges from the shadows.

"We were a village before, now it's like London or Paris," jokes an elderly resident. Among the glass and steel of modern Batumi, a small traditional community is fighting to survive – preserving the city's rich history along the way.

As Russia presses ahead with its war on Ukraine, the Kremlin is drumming up support among schoolchildren. Starting next week, students will be required to attend weekly lectures aimed at “inculcating love for the fatherland,” according to the Education Ministry.

More than three years into a presidency overshadowed first by his long-ruling predecessor, and then by the deadliest political violence in the country's history, Kazakhstan’s Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev is seeking a fresh mandate.

Accidental or not, Mikhail Gorbachev's actions led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unshackling of its republics. But on his death, many in the region remember Gorbachev not for that independence but efforts, including crackdowns, to keep the empire intact.