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.
podcast

Of Russian Prospects in the Middle East

Center for Strategic and International Studies December 17, 2019 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, Jeffrey Mankoff, senior fellow at CSIS's Russia and Eurasia Program, sits down with Alexey Khlebnikov to discuss Moscow’s successes and failures in Syria as well as the changes in the region that have taken place since Russia’s military intervention in Syria.
podcast

Of Putin and Xi

Center for Strategic and International Studies September 20, 2019 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, CSIS senior fellow Jeffrey Mankoff sits down with Hilary Appel to discuss her memo “Are Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin Partners? Interpreting The Russia-China Rapprochement,” as well as the reinterpretation of Chinese investment as a ‘debt trap.’
book review

7 Pillars of Putin’s World: New Book Shows US Policymakers Russia as It Is

Nikolas K. Gvosdev April 04, 2019 RM Exclusives
Angela Stent clearly lays out Russia’s strategic imperatives and the mindset of Putin and his circle to present a coherent, compelling analysis of contemporary Russian behavior in the world.
book review

How the US Managed, and Mismanaged, Russia: A Superstar Diplomat Tells His Story

Graham Allison March 12, 2019 RM Exclusives
William Burns’ new book describes his warnings to the Bush administration that pushing for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine would spur Moscow to use armed force in the former and to meddle in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
research paper

Lessons for Leaders: What Afghanistan Taught Russian and Soviet Strategists

Simon Saradzhyan February 28, 2019 RM Exclusives
Moscow’s military intervention in Afghanistan lasted nearly a decade (1979-1989). It cost the USSR dearly in blood, treasure and power, but imparted lessons as well. Can some of these prove useful to the U.S. today?
book review

And Here the Twain Shall Meet: Eurasia’s Role in a Changing World Order

Dominic Ziegler February 15, 2019 RM Exclusives
Russia and China are two key players in a new Eurasia. In the book reviewed here, Bruno Maçães argues that this supercontinent is the most salient feature of an emerging new world order.
book review

‘No Place for Russia’: How Much Are Old US Ambitions in Europe to Blame for Russia-West Tensions Today?

Joshua Shifrinson January 03, 2019 RM Exclusives
In the 1990s, preserving NATO and, with it, U.S. preeminence in Europe became the sine qua non of U.S. European policy. Is this why Russia was left out of Europe’s post-Cold War security structure?
research paper

Jihadists from Ex-Soviet Central Asia: Where Are They? Why Did They Radicalize? What Next?

Edward Lemon, Vera Mironova and William Tobey December 07, 2018 RM Exclusives
Three authors draw on field work and other research to assess the motives, prospects and threats linked to Central Asian jihadists, including the thousands who joined Islamic State and other violent extremists in the Middle East.
research paper

China-Russia Relations: Same Bed, Different Dreams? Why Converging Interests Are Unlikely to Lead to a Full-Fledged Alliance

Simon Saradzhyan and Ali Wyne June 07, 2018 RM Exclusives
China and Russia’s shared interests have brought them closer together, but growing disparities between the two make a formal alliance unlikely, unless two conditions emerge—including a weakened, isolated Russia.
podcast

Of Russian Military Reforms From Georgia to Syria

Center for Strategic and International Studies May 22, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program expert Olga Oliker sits down with defense analyst Anton Lavrov to discuss Russian military reforms, what new capabilities Russia demonstrated in Syria and where the Russian military may (or may not) be heading.
podcast

Of Armaments and Armenia

Center for Strategic and International Studies May 08, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program expert Olga Oliker sits down with military analyst Leonid Nersisyan to discuss a wide range of subjects from the state of military analysis in Russia to the future of U.S.-Russia arms control, plus a current affairs segment on the latest political developments in Armenia.
podcast

Of US-Russia Relations and What Is to Be Done

Center for Strategic and International Studies April 10, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of the Russian Roulette podcast, hosts and CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program experts Olga Oliker and Jeffrey Mankoff sit down with Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute, to discuss the state of U.S.-Russia relations, historical cycles in the relationship, signaling and ways out of the current downward spiral.