“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.

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.

Between Two Fires: Tajikistan’s Strategic Crossroads in an Age of War

As Russia bleeds in Ukraine and Iran confronts a devastating military campaign by the United States and Israel, Tajikistan — bound to both by history, language, and structural dependency — faces a moment that is as dangerous as it is clarifying. The correct response is not to find a new patron, but to build sovereignty.

Kyiv, Moscow and Three Scenarios For Iran

By the time of this writing, the Israeli and US military operation “Lion's Roar/Epic Fury” against the fundamentalist ayatollah regime in Iran had passed its eighth day. The strategic objective of this operation would be either the collapse of the Iranian regime or the infliction of such severe damage that it would be unable to restore its military and geopolitical capabilities for a long time. This strategy relies heavily on targeting the leadership.

The South Caucasus at a Crossroads: American Engagement, Russian Retrenchment, and the Contest for Armenia’s Future

The February 2026 visit of U.S. Vice President JD Vance to Yerevan and Baku — the first time a sitting American vice president has set foot in either country — marks the consolidation of a deliberate strategic reorientation. Washington is moving to establish a durable presence in the South Caucasus at a moment when Russia’s credibility as a regional security patron has collapsed and Iran’s leverage over transit routes is under pressure. For Armenia, long considered Moscow’s most reliable client in the region, the moment is one of unusual and consequential opportunity.

European Embrace or Russian Straitjacket? Georgia’s Fateful Choice

The European Union’s 20th sanctions package marks an unprecedented escalation: for the first time, Brussels is targeting a port in a country that holds EU candidate status. Georgia’s Kulevi terminal, now implicated in facilitating Russian oil shipments, encapsulates a broader transformation underway in Tbilisi — one that is steadily converting a once-promising candidate for European integration into a facilitator of sanctions evasion for Moscow.

Constitutional Reform in Kazakhstan: Why President Tokayev May No Longer Need the Russians

Kazakhstan is rewriting almost its entire Constitution—and the stakes go far beyond parliamentary mechanics. Behind the talk of a unicameral legislature and a vice presidency lies a carefully staged power transition, a recalibration of foreign dependence, and a quiet effort by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to secure his post-presidential future without leaning on Moscow. This overhaul may redefine not only who governs Kazakhstan, but who ultimately guarantees that power.

Iranian Protest Movement as Seen from Kyiv and Moscow

At the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, Iran was gripped by mass public protests unprecedented in recent decades both in scale and in the level of violence. They began as a reaction to the most severe economic and environmental crisis in the country’s history, which reached its peak by January 2026, but within a few days evolved into an anti-government political movement. At the time of writing, it is still impossible to determine whether the leaders and participants of the protests will succeed in overthrowing the fundamentalist regime of radical Shiite Islamists, or whether the authorities, as in the past, will manage to suppress the burgeoning revolutionary process.