WINCHESTER traveller John Pilkington is giving a fund-raising talk on his most recent expedition to Ukraine and the Caucasus.

He will speak at the Winchester Discovery Centre, Jewry Street, on Thursday November 10, at 7pm.

It is entitled Russia and Europe:What Next? Passion and conflict from Ukraine to the Caucasus.

Passions are running high in Ukraine and the breakaway states of the
Caucasus.

Russian leader 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 legendary 'Great Game' between Russia
and Britain in Victorian times.

Since the Soviet Union's break-up, 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.

Tickets £10 from Winchester Discovery Centre, 01962 873603, or online at www.hants.gov.uk/wdc.

Proceeds go to Winchester Rotary in aid of End Polio Now.