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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Nuclear Weapons in Belarus: History Repeats Itself

William Alberque March 31, 2023 RM Exclusives
Russia’s increasingly violent nuclear rhetoric and basing of nuclear weapons in Belarus are to be condemned. However, these developments do not alter the balance of power in Europe, nor do they significantly alter the risk of nuclear conflict.
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What Led to Putin’s Blunder in Ukraine?

Simon Saradzhyan February 24, 2023 RM Exclusives
Three factors are likely to have contributed to shaping Putin’s decision to launch the invasion one year ago.
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Domestic Politics Encourage Continued War of Attrition in Ukraine in 2023

Thomas Graham February 22, 2023 RM Exclusives
The main question now: How far will the escalation go?
Clues from Russian Views

Devoted to Putin: Volodin's Views on Russia, the West and the Rest

RM Staff January 27, 2023 RM Exclusives
Despite his mastery of reductionist flattery and "unlimited devotion" to Putin, the speaker of the State Duma likely isn't a member of the Russian president's inner-most circle. Still, he may have a shot at the Kremlin when Putin steps down.
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Putin’s Increasingly Loose Talk on Use of Nukes

Simon Saradzhyan November 10, 2022 RM Exclusives
The Russian leader’s loose talk on nukes even has Russia’s long-term strategic partners such as India and China worried.
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Can Lessons From Cuban Missile Crisis Help Stave Off US-Russia Confrontation?

Yana Demeshko and Natasha Yefimova-Trilling October 19, 2022 RM Exclusives
A look at 10 similarities and differences to get the conversation going
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Does Ukraine War Pose Greater Risk of Nuclear Armageddon Than Cuban Missile Crisis?

RM Staff and Associates October 13, 2022 RM Exclusives
This month marks the 60th anniversary of "the most dangerous moment in human history." But has the current crisis in relations between the West and Russia become more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Clues from Russian Views

The World According to Patrushev

Simon Saradzhyan and Angelina Flood October 07, 2022 RM Exclusives
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, often comes up when discussion turns to possible Putin successors. Check out our compilation for some of his views on issues that impact important U.S. interests.
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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.
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Fact and Analysis Check: Is Odesa ‘Putin’s Obsession'?

Graham Allison August 29, 2022 RM Exclusives
A recent New York Times article claims Odesa is “Putin’s obsession.” But is there any evidence to support this big idea?
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War With Ukraine as Other Means to Speed Up Reversal of Russia’s ‘Civilizational Choice’

Simon Saradzhyan August 12, 2022 RM Exclusives
One overlooked aim of the war in Ukraine is Putin's attempt to speed up a clean break from a “declining” West, so that Russia can blossom as a separate civilization in alignment with the “great civilization” of a “rising” China.
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Decoding Putin’s Speeches: The Three Ideological Lines of Russia’s Military Intervention in Ukraine

Marlene Laruelle and Ivan Grek February 25, 2022 RM Exclusives
Putin's Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 speeches have confirmed the construction of a narrative legitimizing the military intervention in Ukraine along three key ideological lines: a historical one, an ethnic one and a political one.
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