INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russian opposition politician and former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who has been critical of Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine,
said Friday he had left Russia temporarily but was hoping to return.Kasyanov, who served as President Vladimir Putin's first prime
minister from 2000 to 2004, told AFP in written messages that he was not currently in Russia."I hope not for long," the 64-year-old said.He
declined to provide any other details or say where he was.After being sacked by Putin, Kasyanov joined Russia's opposition and became one
called the Kremlin's "brutal war" against Ukraine in an interview with Germany's Deutsche Welle released in mid-May.Konstantin
Merzlikin, a senior member of Parnas, said he was regularly in touch with Kasyanov but did not know where he was based or when he left the
Russia since the start of the conflict in late February.Putin's best-known critic, anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, is in
