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Farewell to Russia : a journey through the former USSR

Barnes, Joe Luc2026
Books, Manuscripts
Snow, concrete, the KGB: that's the cliché of the Soviet Union. But its collapse in 1991 sparked a story at once messier and more compelling than any stereotype. 35 years on, Moscow may brim with champagne bars and blacked-out Mercedes, but what became of the other 14 states that emerged from its ashes? In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Joe Luc Barnes crossed the former USSR to find out. Along the way, he finds epic mountains, cobblestoned old towns and storied Silk Road cities - not to mention Georgian wine, Armenian brandy and vodka in industrial supply. Travelling thousands of miles by rattling platzkart train, hitchhiking, and riding in the white cars mandated by Turkmenistan's dictator, he gathers a chorus of voices: nomads in mountain yurts, TikTok-fuelled activists, small-town taxi drivers and many who still look uneasily over their shoulder for the secret police.
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