Passions are running high in Ukraine and the breakaway states of the Caucasus. Vladimir Putin's adventures in Ukraine took the West by surprise - but John thinks in some ways they followed a pattern that goes back more than a century to the days of the Great Game. Since the Soviet Union's breakup, Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia have become Russia's forgotten satellite states unrecognised and unheard of by most outsiders. Now Donetsk and Luhansk have joined the list, and Russia has full control of Crimea. In 2015 John met people on both sides of these disputed borders, and promises a talk full of intrigue with one or two surprises.