The Jews of Ukraine Between Two Narratives

In late June, the most hotly debated issue concerning the Jews of Ukraine was the meeting between Dmytro Korchynskyi, leader of the radical nationalist Ukrainian party Bratstvo ("Brotherhood"), and Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Asman, who holds both Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship. Following the meeting, Rabbi Asman issued a statement asserting that Bratstvo had no connection to the Nazi slogans and salutes displayed during a public rally held on Kyiv's Independence Square on June 21. A photograph showing Dmytro Korchynskyi and Moshe Asman shaking hands was subsequently published.

Renaming the Map: Turkey’s Cognitive War for Central Asia and Its Persian Dimension

In November 2025, Turkish Minister of Education Yusuf Tekin made a declaration that passed largely unnoticed in Western strategic circles but sent a quiet tremor through the Persian-speaking world. Addressing the replacement of “Central Asia” (Orta Asya) with “Turkestan” (Türkistan) in Turkey’s national history curriculum, Tekin offered an explanation that was anything but pedagogical: the term “Central Asia,” he argued, had been deliberately introduced into academic literature to divide the Turkic world. The new curriculum, he made clear, was correcting a historical injustice — not updating a geography textbook (Anadolu Agency 2025).

Diplomatic Blow in the Wrong Direction? Gideon Sa’ar’s Initiative for Israel to Recognize the Armenian Genocide

On Thursday, June 25, 2026, an unusual diplomatic development attracted the attention of both the Israeli public and international observers. On that day, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced on his official X account that he intended to submit, at the next cabinet meeting, a draft resolution calling for Israel's official recognition of the genocide committed against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire during the final years of the First World War. Three days later, the resolution—which, according to the foreign minister, represents "a moral and historical obligation" of the Jewish state and also condemns "the denial, minimization, or distortion of historical truth"—was unanimously approved by the government. The next step, it was announced, will be a vote in the Knesset.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 33 (June 2026)

In June 2026, the BESA PSCRP authors have analyzed a wide range of regional issues, including the recent developments in Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, and Central Asia.

Ukraine In The Fifth Year Of The War: Social Challenges

Since March 2022 through November 2025, I visited Ukraine many times. Combined with maintaining constant contact with people living there and regularly following the Ukrainian media, this has enabled me to form my own understanding of a country that has, over the past several years, become Europe's true shield.

Monthly Monitoring of Analytical Publications on Post-Soviet Conflicts

Perhaps for the first time since our monitoring program began, we encountered a situation where two publications, both worthy of the quality of their research and scientific integrity, were not included in our review. This is because the authors chose the topic of these materials to add fuel to the fire of a specific conflict in the post-Soviet space.

Architects of Interdependence: Navigating the Convergence of Indo-Mediterranean and Trans-Caspian Corridors

The architecture of Eurasian connectivity is currently undergoing a fundamental transformation, driven by the systemic destabilization of traditional trade routes. As sanctions and geopolitical risks render the Northern and Southern corridors increasingly unreliable, the Middle Corridor is probably evolving from a supplementary diversification tool into an indispensable land artery linking the markets of the East and West. Furthermore, the potential integration of the Middle Corridor with the Indo-Israeli "Spice Route" creates a new "Eurasian arc of connectivity".

Revisiting Abraham’s Iceberg: The Israeli-Azerbaijani Strategic Partnership and the Abraham Accords

The insights of this analysis allow a more detailed look at the Israeli-Azerbaijani strategic partnership. Drawing well-thought-out conclusions from this is even more essential for Israel, as many security-related issues depend heavily on the future trajectories of this important partnership. Following this, Azerbaijan’s value to the Jewish state will continue to remain crucial in the near future – even outside the Iranian issue and even if Baku remains outside the AAD.

When Pro-Palestinian Moral Advocacy and Russian MFA Rhetoric Start Speaking the Same Language

Russian official discourse has consistently promoted the claim that smaller states pursuing policies critical towards Russia, especially those aligned with NATO or the European Union, do not possess fully authentic sovereignty.

Decolonization Movements of the Peoples of the Russian Federation and Israel’s Interests

The largest Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which took place in mid-May, became, in a certain sense, a symbolic event, demonstrating the Russian Army's inability to fully protect even the capital and its immediate surroundings. Against this backdrop, statements about the inevitability of Russia's defeat and possible disintegration as one of the consequences of such a defeat have become increasingly frequent. One of the prominent Russian opposition figures in exile, Garry Kasparov, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, has repeatedly spoken about this possibility. Discussing the centrifugal forces that could cause the Russian Federation, in the event of a weakening central government, to lose some of the territories currently within its borders, the former world chess champion emphasized the civilizational differences between various parts of the Russian Federation.