Chechnya: the Problem of Succession and the Future After Kadyrov

The regime cannot afford a “third Chechen war”, so after Kadyrov it will continue its policy of extremely harsh crackdowns and bribery of local elites. Since Kadyrov has no unconditional and universally recognized successor, it is possible that attempts will be made to build complex combinations based on a balance of interests of a number of key figures, with the federal center retaining the role of arbiter.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 18 (March 2025)

In March 2025, the PSCRP’s publications covered socio- and geopolitical developments in the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, and Belarus.

A Few Dollars More: Why Political Orientation of South Caucasus Countries Shifts From the EU Toward Russia. Part I – Georgia

Georgia applied for EU membership alongside Moldova on March 3, 2022. In June of the same year, the European Commission recommended granting candidate status to both republics, but the decision on Tbilisi’s application was postponed. Georgia ultimately received candidate status in December 2023. Yet, on November 28, 2024, the Georgian authorities announced their decision to suspend EU accession negotiations from the national agenda until 2028. What happened?

Erzyan National Movement as an Example of Ethnic Separatism in the Russian Federation

The Erzyan national movement deserves special consideration: the problems it is trying to solve are characteristic not only of the Republic of Mordovia. They are also relevant for other national autonomies located in the east of the European part of the Russian Federation, far from the state borders, where the peoples belonging to the Finno-Ugric linguistic group live: the Republic of Komi, the Republic of Udmurtia and the Republic of Mari El.

National-Democratic Movement of Belarus

Belarus is the only post-Soviet country whose national language has been losing its positions over the decades that followed the collapse of the USSR. At the same time, it is the only post-Soviet state other than the Russian Federation where Russian has the status of the state language (in Kyrgyzstan, Russian has the status of “official” but not the state language).

Why Azerbaijan Perfectly Fits Into the Abraham Accords Framework: Clarifications

For the last month, numerous US and Israeli publications mulled the initiative to integrate the Republic of Azerbaijan into the Abraham Accords. In our two previous papers on the issue, we described how deep the relations between Baku and Jerusalem are and brought up several recommendations on how to effectively engage Azerbaijan in Trump’s regional plans and for the sake of Israel’s interests.

China Seeks to Become the New Patron in Central Asia, Displacing Russia

Russia, which a dozen years ago aspired to be a major transportation corridor from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is gradually turning into a transportation and logistics desert. The new joint Chinese-Kazakh railroad project has become another stepping stone to exclude Russia from transcontinental logistics chains. At that, Russia loses not only Europe and the Far East as customers and partners: it also loses its leverage in the region it used to consider its fiefdom - namely, Central Asia.

Monthly Monitoring of Analytical Publications on Post-Soviet Conflicts

February is a time of plenty for the researcher of intellectual and academic thought. Publications are published that did not find a niche in the editorial plans of the previous year; yearbooks appear for which the publishers hold back the most interesting materials. This issue, unlike the previous one, talks more about conflicts within the states of the former USSR - cognitive, interethnic, interreligious and even ideological.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 17 (February 2025)

The PSCRP reports in February 2025, have covered the recent political developments in Central Asia, South Caucasus, and Russia. The PSCR program at the BESA Center is further continuing its mission of analyzing the most important sociopolitical developments in the post-Soviet region.

On China’s Territorial Claims Against the Russian Federation

A year and a half ago, in the summer of 2023, a forum titled "Yakutia and the Provinces of China: Sister-City Relations for Strengthening Russian-Chinese Relations" was held in Yakutsk. The ties between China and the Republic of Sakha continue to strengthen. It is also worth noting that directly south of Yakutia are Russian regions to which China has almost openly laid claim, as they were once part of the Qing Empire. From the Chinese perspective, Russia still occupies much larger Chinese territories, meaning historical justice has not been restored.