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

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

American Hustle. What Mueller Found—and Didn’t Find—About Trump and Russia

Stephen Kotkin May 21, 2019
The phantasm of an all-powerful, all-controlling, irredeemably evil Kremlin has diverted too much attention from Americans’ own failings, and their duties to rectify them
interview

Getting Somewhere With Russia: A Q&A With Angela Stent

RM Staff May 01, 2019 RM Exclusives
An eminent Russia expert discuses Russia “as is,” competing and cooperating, the end of arms control, sanctions, Ukraine, Venezuela and much more.
article

The Folly of ‘Russiagate’

Stephen Kinzer April 04, 2019 Recommended Reads
The election of U.S. President Donald Trump was not, we now learn, the result of a conspiracy directed from Moscow. But this finding by special prosecutor Robert Mueller will change few minds: once again, as in the 1950s, everything is Russia’s fault—no matter what Mueller says.
article

Gangster Geopolitics: The Kremlin’s Use of Criminals as Assets Abroad

Mark Galeotti January 17, 2019 RM Exclusives
Since the worsening of relations with the West in 2014, the Kremlin has increasingly adopted a “mobilization state” approach, turning to any available foreign-policy levers. Gangsters are no exception.
article

Isolation and Reconquista: Russia’s Toolkit as a Constrained Great Power

Marlene Laruelle December 12, 2018 RM Exclusives
As relations with the West languish, Moscow has built a dual strategy, positioning itself at once as beleaguered and triumphant, an alternative to the U.S.-led world order. In the short term, this is probably its best bet.
article

US Security and Russia: Choices and Consequences

Jill Dougherty and Thomas Zamostny December 07, 2018 Partner Posts
America’s current strategy toward Russia, simply put, is not working; instead, it’s tying our hands. It’s making Russia more aggressive externally and less democratic internally. The dangers are escalating.
Competing Views on Russia

Robert Legvold on Russia: Insights and Recommendations

RM Staff November 20, 2018 RM Exclusives
“The chances in … the next 10-15 years of a nuclear weapon being fired in anger are far greater now than they ever were during the Cold War.” This and more from one of America’s top Russia scholars.
article

Putin Deepens Confusion About Russian Nuclear Policy

Abigail Stowe-Thurston, Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen October 25, 2018 RM Exclusives
Rather than strengthening deterrence, ambiguity surrounding U.S. and Russian nuclear thresholds is causing both sides to make dangerous assumptions about one another’s intentions.
Competing Views on Russia

Timothy Colton on Russia: Insights and Recommendations

RM Staff October 11, 2018 RM Exclusives
An eminent Harvard professor and author weighs in on Russia’s past, present and future and what they mean for the U.S.-Russian relationship.
article

Skepticism About US Intentions and Other Enduring Consequences of Russia’s 1993 Crisis

Paul Saunders October 04, 2018 RM Exclusives
Twenty-five years ago this week, a confrontation between President Boris Yeltsin and Russia’s parliament became one of the most consequential events in Russia’s post-Soviet history.
explainer

The ‘Who, What, When’ of Russia Sanctions: A Cheat Sheet for Laymen

Alexey Eremenko September 26, 2018 RM Exclusives
This explainer spells out the major sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and EU since 2014: who has been targeted; what behaviors are to be punished or deterred; what activities have been restricted; and for how long.
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