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.
explainer

The Collapsing Russian Defense Budget and Other Fairy Tales

Michael Kofman May 22, 2018 RM Exclusives
Recent reports claiming Russia slashed defense spending by 20 percent from 2016 to 2017 are wrong, the author argues. They stem from a government decision to pay down old debt, not actual cuts to spending.
presentation

Team Trump on Russia: John Bolton’s Views

Kevin Doyle April 09, 2018 RM Exclusives
As the new national security adviser steps into his role, his bellicose, America-first approach to foreign policy has been cause for comment and consternation. In this evolving guide, we track Bolton's views on Russia and the issues central to U.S.-Russian relations.
explainer

Russia and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election: Laying Out the Publicly Available Evidence

David Filipov, Kevin Doyle and Natasha Yefimova-Trilling April 06, 2018 RM Exclusives
Americans’ opinions about allegations of “Russiagate” are often split along party lines—in part because the publicly available evidence has come in forms that leave room for doubt. Here we try to present it as systematically as possible. Newly updated!
presentation

New U.S. Ambassador to Russia Wants to Bring Relations to ‘Higher Altitude,’ but Not Potemkin-Style

RM Staff October 04, 2017 RM Exclusives
A round-up of Jon Huntsman's comments on and connections to Russia.
column

Yes, Russian Generals Are Preparing for War. That Doesn’t Necessarily Mean the Kremlin Wants to Start One

Simon Saradzhyan August 30, 2017 RM Exclusives
Past experience suggests that two conditions must exist for Russia to use military exercises as a cover for foreign military interventions and neither one is in place today.
explainer

25 Years of Nuclear Security Cooperation by the US, Russia and Other Newly Independent States: A Timeline

Mariana Budjeryn, Simon Saradzhyan and William Tobey June 16, 2017 RM Exclusives
At a time when the U.S. and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union still saw each other as mortal enemies, they found the courage, creativity and capacity for trust to work together in the name of preventing nuclear catastrophe.
explainer

Russian Defense Spending: Tricky Math

Olga Oliker April 26, 2017 RM Exclusives
With Russia flexing its military muscle, analysts are increasingly interested in how much Moscow is spending on weapons. This explainer lays out the factors that make those numbers hard to crunch.
explainer

For Russia and America, Election Interference Is Nothing New: 25 Stories

Arjun Kapur and Simon Saradzhyan March 22, 2017 RM Exclusives
As headlines scream about Russia’s “unprecedented” interference in U.S. politics, it’s helpful to get some historical perspective on how often countries try to tinker with each other’s elections.
presentation

Team Trump on Russia: Words and Actions

RM Staff March 02, 2017 RM Exclusives
Early this year the new U.S. president picked his Cabinet members, other top officials and advisors. Here is an evolving guide to their positions on Russia and ties with the country.
column

What Would a Realist World Have Looked Like?

Stephen M. Walt January 18, 2016 Recommended Reads
Expanding NATO didn’t strengthen the alliance; it just committed the U.S. to protect a group of weak and hard-to-defend places that were far from home but right next door to Russia.
column

Why Arming Kiev is a Really, Really Bad Idea

Stephen M. Walt February 09, 2015
Arming Ukraine will simply intensify the conflict and add to the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
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