In September 2022, Russian President Putin ordered a partial mobilization to deploy more soldiers to Ukraine. But many Russians defied that order and fled the country – as many as half a million to date.

There were fistfights in the parliament in the Republic of Georgia as tempers frayed during a debate about a "foreign agents" law. Critics of the legislation say it mirrors a similar draconian law in neighboring Russia.

Georgian authorities are backing a "foreign agents" bill despite criticism from Brussels and Washington. The bill is widely seen as emulating a repressive Russian law that allows the Kremlin to crush its critics.

Chinese students with scholarships are bound by contracts with gagging clauses, but that contravenes the academic freedom guaranteed by Germany's constitution. An investigation by DW and CORRECTIV.

After days of protests in the streets, Georgia's ruling party has said it will withdraw a proposed law to classify media and NGOs that receive funding from abroad as "foreign agents."

The Georgian government has withdrawn its "foreign agent" bill following massive pressure from the streets. But does that mean the country's a step closer to its long-awaited EU candidacy?

Germany's foreign minister says the door to EU candidate status is "wide open" for Georgia. But she stressed the Caucasus country would first need to implement reforms to address concerns over democracy.

Russian forces occupy some 20 percent of Georgia's territory, a consequence of two wars. Officially, Georgia wants to join NATO and the EU; these ambitions are even written into its constitution. But behind the scenes, the country's de facto ruler – oligarch Bidzina Ivanizhvili – is suspected of sabotaging the reforms demanded by Brussels.

Russia's Vladimir Putin has lifted the ban on direct flights with Georgia and introduced a visa-free regime for Georgian nationals. Georgian authorities welcome the initiative; critics see it as "provocation" by Moscow.

The biggest war in Europe since 1945 has prompted several countries to try to speed up their integration with the West. Those include Ukraine itself but also nations in the western Balkans, as well as Moldova and Georgia, which has been knocking on NATO's door for many years. The former Soviet Republic applied for EU membership in March 2022, although it has not yet been given candidate status.

The EU wants to import green electricity from Georgia as part of a move to make the country less dependent on Russia and help the bloc meet its climate targets.

In France, pan-African influencers are gaining more and more followers on social media. Advocating a radical anti-Western ideology, some of them claim responsibility for the recent coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. Their narrative is similar to that of the Kremlin, which is trying to place its pawns on the African continent. FRANCE 24 profiles two French influencers who seem to have taken sides with Russian President Vladimir Putin.