Not Yet a Peace Treaty: Understanding the Border Delimitation Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Technically, by agreeing to return to the demarcation of the borders according to the Alma-Ata Declarations, the Armenian side validates the Azerbaijani thesis of the “just war”. The demarcation agreement will lead to the departure of the Russian border guards from the Armenian side – they were stationed there by request of Yerevan because it was afraid of military escalation.

Can Iran Take Over Russia’s Position in the South Caucasus and Create New Threats to Israel?

Iran would become Armenia’s new patron and it could eventually join the ranks of pro-Iranian proxies, with dire consequences for the country. In this scenario, Iran would also gain new arguments and resources in its interaction with Russia, Turkey and India, which it could exchange for something else. This could create new threats to Israel.

South Caucasus As a Zone of Conditional Stability

All the countries of the South Caucasus are in anticipation, waiting for Russia’s withdrawal from the war with Ukraine. It is clear that it will emerge from this conflict weakened, but it is not known to what extent

The Caucasus: Regional Security Crossroads at the Beginning of 2024

The policies of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, as well as their foreign policy orientations, play a key role in shaping regional security and stability in the region. The problem is that the South Caucasus has never been a unified geopolitical space throughout its modern history.

Azerbaijan and Armenia: Political Stand in the Aftermath of October 7

The ongoing war between Israel and the radical Islamist terrorist movement Hamas has a substantial symbolic and practical impact on the domestic political discourse and foreign policy of countries involved in military and geopolitical conflicts in other regions of the world, including the South Caucasus

Intensification of French Foreign Policy in the South Caucasus and Central Asia: Israeli Perspective

After the Second Karabakh War (2020) and especially after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine (2022), France saw a number of new diplomatic opportunities opening up for it in the southern post-Soviet space as Russia's traditional influence waned.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 2 (November 2023)

In November 2023, the BESA Post-Soviet Conflict Research Program published a series of texts, half of which focus on the recent surge of anti-Semitism in the region of interest, and the rest on the recent dynamics of military supplies in the South Caucasus, Russian-Georgian relations, and the electoral behavior of Kazakhstan's Russian-speaking minority.

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 2 (November 2023)

BESA Post-Soviet Conflicts Research Digest No. 1 (September-October 2023)

The Hamas Attack on Israel and the Wave of Antisemitism in the South Caucasus and Central Asia

The Hamas attack on Israel triggered a wave of antisemitism in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The root causes of this surge are similar: anti-Israeli propaganda in Russia (which is anti-liberal and anti-Western in nature) and in the Islamic world (usually of a specifically religious nature), as well as in the West (typically taking on an extreme leftist nature).

The New Karabakh Crisis and the Rise of Antisemitism in Contemporary Armenia

The establishment of Azerbaijani control over the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh has given rise to a wave of anti-Semitism in Armenia. The following anti-Semitic elements can be identified in contemporary Armenian public discourse.