Dor Shabashewitz

4 weeks ago | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Dor Shabashewitz

Many Russian-speaking olim feel discriminated against by mainstream Israeli society. They complain, and rightfully so, that sabras often question their Jewishness. Rumor has it that many of them bribed Soviet officials to get fake certificates of Jewish ancestry as it was an easy opportunity to leave their impoverished homeland. Some people seem to think that all Rusim eat pork, celebrate Christmas and say antisemitic things behind closed doors.

1 month ago | blogs.timesofisrael.com | Dor Shabashewitz

Atyrau, a majority-Muslim Kazakh city in a Central Asian desert known for its history of Cossack rebellions, doesn’t sound like a very Jewish place. But in fact, it has had a Jewish presence for centuries. Notable Jews born in Atyrau include movie director Timur Bekmambetov, tech entrepreneur Arkady Volozh, Chabad rabbi Shimshon Romanovski and journalist Irina Pruss, who happens to be my beloved grandmother.

2 months ago | besacenter.org | Dor Shabashewitz

PSCRP-BESA Reports No 115 (February 20, 2025)by Dor ShabashewitzSecessionist movements have existed in Russia for as long as the Russian Federation itself. After the end of several heated conflicts in the 1990s and early 2000s, Moscow dismissed independence demands as inherently unserious, bordering on political role-playing.

Aug 23, 2024 | eurasiareview.com | Dor Shabashewitz

Bahruz Samadov, a 28-year-old researcher, journalist and peace activist, was detained by Azerbaijan’s State Security Service on August 21. Samadov lived in the Czech Republic, where he studied political science as a PhD candidate. According to his acquaintance Altay Göyüşov, he returned to Baku about a month ago to visit his elderly grandmother. Little is known about Samadov’s case from official sources besides the fact that he was detained for and subsequently charged with treason.

Jul 10, 2024 | eurasiareview.com | Dor Shabashewitz

Georgy Pirogov, 34, left Russia shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and moved to Tbilisi, Georgia, where he worked as a rope access technician at a renewable energy company. On July 5th, Pirogov went missing while on a work trip to Uzbekistan. The last time he messaged his family was when he checked out of a hotel in Qońirat, a small desert town in Uzbekistan’s autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. He wrote he was planning to drive to Bukhara and fly to Georgia from there.