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.
article

Is Putin Too Old to Rule Russia?

RM Associates and Staff June 12, 2024 RM Exclusives
Our research shows that in terms of age, Putin is not an outlier among Russia’s rulers of the past century nor among the present rulers of some of Russia’s peers, allies and adversaries.
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Why the Wagner Group Cannot Be Easily Absorbed by the Russian Military—and What That Means for the West

Kimberly Marten September 01, 2023 RM Exclusives
In one shape or another, the Wagner Group is likely to continue operating in the interests of Putin’s regime outside Russia, regardless of whether it comes under MoD command and the costs of doing so.
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8 Lessons for Taiwan From Russia’s War in Ukraine

Tzu-yun Su January 18, 2023 RM Exclusives
While the fighting in Ukraine is on land, and thus very different from the maritime battlefield that would surround Taiwan, there are still many things this island nation can learn from Ukraine's defensive operations.
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Keeping Putin From Going Nuclear: Can Xi and Modi Help?

Simon Saradzhyan September 29, 2022 RM Exclusives
The collective West is right to take Putin’s nuclear threats seriously, but efforts to dissuade him require the pro-active involvement of China and India.
podcast

Vaccine Hesitancy in Russia, France and the United States

PONARS Eurasia September 01, 2021 Partner Posts
Maria Lipman chats with Denis Volkov, Naira Davlashyan and Peter Slevin about why COVID-19 vaccination rates are still so low across the globe, comparing vaccine hesitant constituencies across Russia, France and the United States.
article

Be Careful What You Wish For: Russia, China and Afghanistan after the Withdrawal

Jeffrey Mankoff July 29, 2021 RM Exclusives
Do Beijing and Moscow have sufficient influence to oversee a managed transition, contain any spillover of violence, and provide reassurance to anxious Afghanistan neighbors? The whole region is about to find out.
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The Prospects for US-Russia Climate Engagement Under Moscow’s Chairing of the Arctic Council

Katarina Kertysova May 19, 2021 RM Exclusives
Russia will take over the Arctic Council's rotating chairmanship at a time when the organization grapples with multiple challenges and Russia-West relations have hit another historic low.
article

Five Years After Russia Declared Victory in Syria: What Has Been Won?

Thomas Schaffner March 18, 2021 RM Exclusives
Has the intervention paid off or has Obama’s 2015 prediction that the operation would end in a “quagmire” for Russia come true? An assessment of some key costs and benefits generated by Russia’s intervention in Syria.
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Beyond Arms Embargo, Obstacles Remain to Iran’s Acquisition of Russian Weapons

Nicole Grajewski October 15, 2020 RM Exclusives
On Oct. 18, the U.N. conventional arms embargo on Iran will expire despite Washington’s attempts to extend it. However, Russia's opposition to the extension should not be mistaken as an indication that Moscow will rush to sell weapons to Tehran.
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How Improved US-Russian Relations Could Weaken Putin’s Case for Remaining in Kremlin Until 2036

Paul Saunders July 08, 2020 RM Exclusives
A more nuanced understanding of Putin’s possible motives for the amendments to Russia's constitution—and how the U.S. could shape them in its policy toward Russia—could facilitate Russia’s leadership transition rather than hinder it.
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Military Assets in the Arctic: A Russia-West Correlation of Forces

Mathieu Boulegue January 22, 2020 RM Exclusives
Should military tension in the region grow, overall military deployments would largely play in Moscow’s favor in the European Arctic and in Washington’s in the Pacific Arctic.
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.
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