Analysis

This listing contains all the analytical materials posted on the Russia Matters website. These include: RM Exclusives, commissioned by Russia Matters exclusively for this website; Recommended Reads, deemed particularly noteworthy by our editorial team; Partner Posts, originally published by our partners elsewhere; and Future Policy Leaders, pieces by promising young scholars and policy thinkers. Content can be filtered by genre and subject-specific criteria and is updated often. Gradually we will be adding older Recommended Reads and Partner Posts dating back as far as 2011.
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Lessons from Russia's Operations in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine

Michael Kofman, Katya Migacheva, Brian Nichiporuk, Andrew Radin, Olesya Tkacheva and Jenny Oberholtzer May 01, 2017 Recommended Reads
Russia's military operation in 2014 to annex Crimea was a decisive and competent use of military force, while its campaign in the eastern part of Ukraine was ineffectually implemented but achieved its aim: political fragmentation of the country.
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25 Years of US-Russia Relations: What Went Wrong and Can It Go Right?

RM Staff April 14, 2017 RM Exclusives
A quarter century after the Soviet collapse, bilateral tensions are higher than hoped. Here, a score of esteemed Russia watchers explore the lessons learned, the role of diplomatic and commercial ties and the prospects for improvement.
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Panel Discussion: US Politics & Russia

Institute of Politics April 05, 2017 Partner Posts
Panelists speculate on the future of the U.S.-Russian relationship at this event co-hosted by Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
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Russian Cyber Operations: 2017 and Beyond

RM Staff February 08, 2017 RM Exclusives
As Russian cyber-ops continue to grab headlines and defy easy explanation, eminent experts David Sanger, Fiona Hill and Ben Buchanan shed light on some of the murkier parts of this unfolding story.
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Russia and the U.S. Election: Assessing Moscow’s Actions and America’s Responses

RM Staff January 27, 2017 Partner Posts
How should Washington respond to alleged Russian hacking? What is it trying to accomplish and what is the cost/benefit of each response? Experts convened by the Center for the National Interest weigh in.
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Keys, Hurdles, Strategies: US-Russia Relations Under Trump

RM staff January 20, 2017 RM Exclusives
Whither U.S.-Russia relations under Trump? Three top experts weigh in with a look at national interests, obstacles to rapprochement and the new president’s emerging strategy.
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25 Years After the Collapse of the Soviet Union: What Comes Next?

RM staff December 08, 2016 RM Exclusives
Graham Allison, Niall Ferguson, Mary Elise Sarotte and Arne Westad consider the fall of the USSR as “applied history,” pondering what went right, what went wrong and what policymakers can learn.
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Elevation and Calibration: A New Russia Policy for America

Andrew Kuchins December 01, 2016 Partner Posts
With the U.S.-Russia relationship at its most dangerous level since the 1980s, the arrival of a new administration presents an opportunity to clearly evaluate the significant risks current hostilities pose. Containment or deterrence alone cannot mitigate these risks; instead, Washington should pursue a policy of calibration and elevation.
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The Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model

Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews July 11, 2016 Partner Posts
The contemporary Russian propaganda model is high-volume, multichannel, rapid, continuous and repetitive. The very factors that make this model successful also make it difficult to counter. While traditional counterpropaganda approaches are likely to be inadequate, more effective solutions can be found in the same psychology literature that explains the surprising success of this phenomenon.
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NATO's Northeastern Flank—Emerging Opportunities for Engagement

Christopher S. Chivvis, Raphael S. Cohen, Bryan Frederick, Daniel S. Hamilton, F. Stephen Larrabee and Bonny Lin July 07, 2016 Partner Posts
Renewed tensions between Russia and the West have important implications for U.S. Air Force strategy, posture and regional engagement in Europe, requiring a new assessment of opportunities for Air Force partnerships in the region.
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Russia's Military: Assessment, Strategy and Threat

Alexander Golts and Michael Kofman June 24, 2016 Partner Posts
A report providing a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the Russian armed forces in the context of Russia’s reemergence on the geopolitical stage.
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Russia's Medium-Term Economic Prospects

Keith Crane, Shanthi Nataraj, Patrick B. Johnston and Gursel Rafig oglu Aliyev June 22, 2016 Partner Posts
Without major policy changes, the Russian economy will grow slowly in the medium term, even if world market prices for oil rebound sharply by the end of the decade. However, there is much that the Russian government could do internally to accelerate growth.