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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The Balkans Between Russia and the West

Dimitar Bechev November 22, 2017 RM Exclusives
Russia and the West are not locked in a life-and-death battle over the Balkans. The region is just a vulnerable periphery where Moscow can exert influence as part of a broader contest with the U.S and the EU.
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Latest US-Russian Effort on Syria: Good for Preventing Accidents, So-So for Everything Else

Nikolas K. Gvosdev November 15, 2017 RM Exclusives
Trump and Putin’s joint statement at the APEC summit masks deep divisions between Moscow and Washington over how to resolve the conflict.
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Nuclear Dangers from North Korea: Managing the Risks to the US and Russia

Joshua H. Pollack October 27, 2017 RM Exclusives
The risk of an American conflict with North Korea is growing, and along with it so is the risk of an accidental war between the two nuclear superpowers.
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Russian Military Buildup in the West: Fact Versus Fiction

Michael Kofman September 07, 2017 RM Exclusives
Until 2014 Russia was largely cutting the number of troops on NATO's borders to move them elsewhere. The war with Ukraine changed that, reawakening Moscow to the possibility of a large-scale war on its western front.
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The Foreign Policy Price of Trump’s Russia Scandal

Robert E. Hunter May 23, 2017 Recommended Reads
In the current maelstrom of U.S. domestic politics, it will be virtually impossible for the United States to do what’s needed to promote its interests regarding Russia and related security issues.
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Tom Friedman Is Calling for a Partition of Syria: Trump Should Run the Other Way

Stephen M. Walt April 07, 2017 Recommended Reads
Sending U.S. troops into Syria is not a solution. After all, the U.S. does not have the best track record when it comes to intervention in the Middle East.
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Snapshot Analysis: Was Chemical Attack in Syria Meant to Drive Wedge Between US and Russia?

Simon Saradzhyan April 07, 2017 RM Exclusives
The U.S. strikes against Syria have sharply escalated tensions between Moscow and Washington, but the two can still mend fences and work toward peace in Syria.
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Syria and the Call of the Quagmire

Paul R. Pillar April 06, 2017 Recommended Reads
America's immersion into the Syrian civil war carries with it the risk of widespread warfare.
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Trump Deserves a Chance to Deal with Russia over Syria

Nikolas K. Gvosdev March 15, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed a desire to work with Russia to combat Islamic extremist movements in the Middle East. Despite the potential complications, such cooperation should be explored.
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US-Russian Relations: The Middle Cannot Hold

Samuel Charap and Jeremy Shapiro May 03, 2016 Recommended Reads
The Obama administration's "middle-way" strategy towards Russian policy of concurrent antagonism and cooperation must be ended in favor of a more stable path.
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Can the US-Russia Plutonium Disposition Agreement Be Saved?

Pavel Podvig April 28, 2016
Scrapping the U.S.-Russian deal to dispose of weapon-grade plutonium would mean a long-term setback for nuclear nonproliferation efforts. But current tensions make a compromise ever more elusive.
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