A Visit That Moscow Cannot Ignore: Zelensky in Baku and the Remaking of the South Caucasus

Volodymyr Zelensky’s April 25 visit to Gabala and his joint appearance with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev produced six bilateral agreements spanning defense, energy, and trade — and positioned Baku as a prospective venue for trilateral Ukraine-Russia-U.S. negotiations. The episode crystallized a broader realignment already underway in the South Caucasus, one that Russian state media, wire services, and pro-war commentators struggled to process with composure.

“The Path to Freedom”: Program Of The Bashkir National Movement

A book by one of the leaders of the Bashkir national movement, Ruslan Gabbasov, “The Path to Freedom” has been published. In 2011, Gabbasov joined the Bashkir youth movement “Kuk Bure,” and in 2014 became one of the leaders of the nationalist organization “Bashkort,” created on its basis, which was banned in the Russian Federation in 2020.

Dismantling the Apparatus of Exile: Georgia’s Abolition of the South Ossetian Provisional Administration and Its Domestic Political Significance

On January 1, 2026, a quiet but politically charged institutional death took place in Georgia: the Provisional Administration of South Ossetia - formally titled the Administration of the Temporary Administrative-Territorial Unit on the Territory of the Former Autonomous Region of South Ossetia - ceased to exist as a legal entity. The abolition was the culmination of legislation adopted by the Parliament of Georgia on December 17, 2025, by a unanimous vote of 83 deputies, all from the ruling Georgian Dream party. This article examines the decision, its legal and administrative mechanics, its place in Georgian domestic politics, and its broader strategic implications.

The Kremlin’s Open Season on Pashinyan

With Armenia’s parliamentary election set for June 7, 2026, Moscow has moved beyond its customary displeasure with Yerevan and into something resembling an all-out campaign to remove Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from power. The tools are familiar — state media invective, economic threats, curated street protests, and electoral interference — but the intensity is not. What makes the moment additionally curious is that Moscow’s talking points on the U.S.-brokered TRIPP corridor are being faithfully echoed by parts of the Armenian-American diaspora.

Walk, Don’t Run: A Cautious Reassessment of the Zelenskyy-Tsikhanouskaya Meeting in Vilnius in Light of Israel’s Second Iran-War

Several international media outlets have euphorically portrayed the first official meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Vilnius on January 25, 2026, as a fundamental moral shift in Kyiv’s stance toward the Belarusian opposition – from strategic distance to meaningful cooperation. Several interpretations presented the alleged motives behind Ukraine’s adapted policy toward the Belarusian dissidents, while ignoring the argumentative weak spots within them. This analysis reassesses the so-called “first official” Zelenskyy-Tsikhanouskaya Meeting and it presents interpretations not mentioned yet in the public discourse.

Representation of Jewish and Israeli Issues in the FSU region in Light of Operation “Lion’s Roar.”

The commencement of Operation “Rising Lion” on June 13, 2025, triggered a subsequent wave of intensified hostility, synthesizing: classical antisemitic motifs, conspiracy theories, and state-aligned political propaganda. Notably, this period marked the first instance in which anti-Israeli hate speech in the post-Soviet sphere exhibited clear evidence of coordinated external influence.

From Official Neutrality to Public Narrative Wars: Central Asian Reactions to the Iran Conflict. Part 2. Epic Fury in the Social Networks: Central Asian Fusion

In the situation described above, a wide range of anti-Israeli and anti-American stereotypes have spread widely across social media. Numerous videos portraying the alleged “successes” of Iranian strikes against Israel and American forces have circulated widely, particularly in the Tajik-language online environment. More broadly, Iranian propaganda describing supposedly massive losses suffered by the United States and Israel tends to resonate with certain groups within the Central Asian segment of the internet, especially since it is often amplified by channels associated with Islamic fundamentalism or with Russian media networks. At the same time, it should be noted that a significant number of Russian propagandists, who are well-known in Central Asia, have publicly distanced themselves from Iran and emphasize that the war is economically advantageous for Moscow.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 30 (March 2026)

Regardless of our intentions, the March of 2026 became thematic in terms of the BESA PSCRP publications: all of them focus on various aspects of the ongoing military campaigns against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Monthly Monitoring of Analytical Publications on Post-Soviet Conflicts

In February, a number of the works we review below were devoted to the analysis of post-communist countries, the study of the concept of “socialist heritage,” and the discourse of leaders during crises.

From Jewish Memory to Ayatollah Praise: A Belarusian Paradox

Belarus is an unusual place to consider in the context of the Middle East. Three Israeli presidents were born there, while Belarus itself has had only one president since independence. The Aliaksandr Lukashenka regime in Minsk is well aware of this historical connection and sometimes references it as another convenient talking point rather than a foundation for genuine engagement. Thus, this awareness does not translate into any meaningful support for Israel in its current struggles. The current war in Iran is framed by the Lukashenka administration and its state media through the familiar lens of anti-Western rhetoric and selective moral posturing.