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

The Prospects for US-Russia Climate Engagement Under Moscow’s Chairing of the Arctic Council

Katarina Kertysova May 19, 2021 RM Exclusives
Russia will take over the Arctic Council's rotating chairmanship at a time when the organization grapples with multiple challenges and Russia-West relations have hit another historic low.
article

Russia and China Are Outwitting America

Vance Serchuk April 10, 2019 Recommended Reads
American politicians frame the current world order as China, Russia, and the United States locked in a 'great-power competition.' However, by restricting their definition of this rivalry to a race for technological prowess, U.S. national security experts increase the possibility of an inadvertent escalation to war.
article

Trump-Putin G20 Summit: High Stakes and Strained Dialogue

Matthew Rojansky November 28, 2018 RM Exclusives
As high-level U.S.-Russian contacts are again plagued by deep disagreement, both sides face a list of urgent global security challenges that can be managed only through dialogue.
article

Vostok-2018: Russia and China Signal Growing Military Cooperation

Michael Kofman September 10, 2018 RM Exclusives
This year’s strategic military exercise demonstrates both that Russia is still a power in Asia and that it will work with China to offset threats from Washington.
article

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.
article

Dealing with Russia and Drawing Red Lines

Steven Pifer March 09, 2017 RM Exclusives
With new NATO deployments in Central and Eastern Europe, a former U.S. diplomat to the region considers America’s red lines vis-à-vis Russia: What should they be and how to enforce them?
article

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.
article

Good News From Ukraine: It Doesn't Have Nukes

Graham Allison March 21, 2014 Recommended Reads
Considering the current crisis in Ukraine, Graham Allison reflects on the negotiation process for the denuclearization of Ukraine that was carried out in the 1990s.