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

Russia’s FDI Outlook Grim, with No Chinese Rescue in Sight

Nicholas Trickett July 11, 2019 RM Exclusives
Investment in Russia has plummeted for many reasons, both in and out of Moscow’s control. Meanwhile, the country is drifting toward an increasingly closed economy, with interest groups jostling for pieces of the state-funded pie.
article

Optimism for Improved US-Russian Relations Is Necessary, But Should Remain Cautious

Paul Saunders July 03, 2019 RM Exclusives
From Russiagate and bilateral trade to Ukraine and strategic stability, few components of a possible U.S.-Russia agenda provide much ground for optimism.
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The Paradox of American Russophobia

Sean Guillory July 03, 2019 Recommended Reads
The Russian government’s use of Russophobia to chastise critics is nothing new, but this doesn’t mean Russophobia doesn’t exist. It’s a way of “displacing an internal conflict to an external object symbolically related to the conflict.”
article

The Osaka Meeting: Is the Tide Turning in US-Russian Relations?

Thomas Graham July 01, 2019 RM Exclusives
The latest meeting of Trump and Putin might mark the beginning of a new stage in bilateral relations, one of more intensive dialogue. Even if it does, rapid progress on any of the many divisive issues of world order, regional conflicts and values is unlikely.
research paper

Russia’s Military Posture in the Arctic: Managing Hard Power in a ‘Low Tension’ Environment

Mathieu Boulègue June 28, 2019 Recommended Reads
If Moscow is indeed militarizing the Russian Arctic, the military build-up and the Kremlin’s intentions are, at least for now, defensive in nature.
explainer

What Is the State’s Share in Russia’s Economy?

Nini Arshakuni and Natasha Yefimova-Trilling June 26, 2019 RM Exclusives
While press reports say 70% of Russia’s economy is in state hands, some top experts think it’s closer to 35-45%. They’ve seen a trend of strategic nationalization under Putin and doubt the coming years will bring greater efficiency or competition.
article

Geopolitics, Sanctions and Russian Sovereign Debt Since the Annexation of Crimea

Maximilian Hess June 25, 2019 Recommended Reads
The politicization of Russia's sovereign debt may have lasting effects on Russia's economy, capital markets and geopolitics.
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Thirty Years of U.S. Policy Toward Russia: Can the Vicious Circle Be Broken?

Richard Sokolsky and Eugene Rumer June 20, 2019 Recommended Reads
Sokolsky and Rumer suggest that the United States will have to "focus on essentials" to break its impasse with Russia.
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Expert Round-Up: How Likely Is a China-Russia Military Alliance?

Simon Saradzhyan and Angelina Flood June 14, 2019 RM Exclusives
Dozens of scholars, analysts and officials assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Sino-Russian "comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction."
article

Can Washington and Moscow Agree to Limit Political Interference?

Samuel Charap and Ivan Timofeev June 13, 2019 Recommended Reads
The concept of elaborating norms of non-interference on a mutual basis might be the best way to stabilize U.S.-Russian relations and prevent the damaging episodes of recent years from happening again.
article

The Golunov Case Exposes Russia’s ‘Submerged State’

Alexey Yeremenko June 13, 2019 Recommended Reads
The 'submerged-state' is the level of government most often interacted with by investors and is capable of derailing the policies of the ‘outer state.’
article

The Retreat of Western Liberalism and New Competition of Great Powers

Thomas Graham June 10, 2019 Partner Posts
Great power competition today will not resemble the great power competition of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries up to World War I.
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