Former Soviet Union

Putin says Ukraine war is ending but the global order has already shifted - opinion

Ukraine war may be winding down, but its impact on global politics is already irreversible.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a press conference in Moscow, Russia May 9, 2026.
A Satellite image shows a likely oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers near Iran’s Kharg Island, earlier this month.

In double trouble: Iran’s oil crisis – opinion

FIVE JEWISH couples get married in Brazil on Lag Ba'omer.

Five Jewish couples marry in Brazil in front of 900 young Jews from former Soviet Union

A member of the Chornobyl nuclear plant staff places a candle at a memorial dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster, during a night commemorative service to mark its 40th anniversary, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Slavutych,  April 26, 2026.

Ukraine marks 40 years since Chernobyl disaster amid war fears


Polar bears take over abandoned research station in Russian Arctic

Scientists left the research station, which is in an abandoned village, soon after the Soviet Union's collapse over three decades ago.

A polar bear reacts at the abandoned Soviet-era research station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea, in Russia's far northeast, September 14, 2025, in this still image taken from a drone video.

Moldovans vote in high-stakes parliamentary election, authorities warn of Russian interference

Power in the former Soviet republic has swung for decades between pro-European and pro-Russian groups.

A woman votes as members of a local electoral commission visit her home during Moldova's parliamentary elections in the town of Durlesti, Moldova September 28, 2025.

In Moldova, Jewish life is fueled by descendants of those who fled - and refugees from Ukraine

Moldova’s Jews are aging, with many people leaving and few babies being born. The country currently has two functioning Jewish schools and seven synagogues.

Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova.

Transnistria’s Jews find themselves caught in a Soviet time warp as Ukraine war rages next door

In Novokatovsk, Israeli farmer Or Cohen and his family face poverty and war on the Ukrainian border. Their story reveals the challenges of life in Transnistria, where Jewish life is slowly fading.

Israeli-born Or Cohen stands with his Ukrainian wife, Anya, and their 3-year-old son Adam, in the backyard of their farmhouse in Novokatovsk, a Transnistrian village right on the border with Ukraine, June 2025.

Her Jewish grandfather’s shame inspired a prize-winning novel

Sasha Vasilyuk's debut novel, “Your Presence Is Mandatory,” won the $100,000 prize for a story inspired by her father’s father, a Jewish soldier in the Red Army.

Sasha Vasilyuk’s novel, "Your Presence Is Mandatory," was inspired by the story of her grand­fa­ther, right, a Sovi­et World War II sol­dier who nev­er talked about the war.

After decades of conflict, Armenia-Azerbaijan peace plan gives Caucasus Jews new hope

Jews in both countries could benefit after countries signed documents to end 35-year-long hostilities which have defined relations between the two nations.

Armenian girls study Jewish religious texts under the direction of Rabbi Gershon Meir Burshtein in Yerevan.

Olim from former Soviet Union harmed by systemic failures despite high retention rate

Alex Reif: "It is a national waste that Israel is losing immigrants who wish to integrate due to basic failures in absorption."

 Ukrainian refugees are seen arriving in Israel as part of Operation Israeli Guarantee, on March 6, 2022.

At least 50 feared dead as Soviet-era passenger plane crashes in Russia's far east

The burning fuselage of the plane, which was from the Soviet era and was nearly 50 years old, was spotted on the ground by a helicopter, and rescue crews were rushing to the scene.

(illustrative) A Russian An-24 airplane.

'The Illegals': Soviet infiltration, observation, and subversion into the West - review

Shortly after the 1917 October Revolution, Meir Abramovich Trilisser, the forerunner of the KGB, introduced the “illegals” as a weapon into an anti-Communist West

 ELENA VAVILOVA, photographed in the 1980s, was a colonel in the KGB First Chief Directorate Foreign Intelligence Service until 2010.

Novel set in a war-torn Ukraine wins Sami Rohr prize for Jewish literature

Sasha Vasilyuk's novel is the second book by an immigrant from the former Soviet Union to win the 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.

 Books (illustrative)