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.
debate

On West’s Response to Russia in Ukraine: Confrontation Has Risks, but So Does Appeasement

Melinda Haring June 09, 2022 RM Exclusives
We have a dangerous European war right now, but if Putin’s ambitions aren’t checked, we are likely to end up in a much worse situation that could easily bring about a third world war.
report

The Impact of the War in Ukraine on Global Trade and Investment

World Bank May 01, 2022 Recommended Reads
The war has direct effects on the firms operating in Russia and Ukraine and on firms relying on suppliers from those markets. But the shock caused by the war goes well beyond these two countries, as geopolitical risks have increased globally.
article

Would Putin’s Russia Really Nuke Ukraine?

Graham Allison April 22, 2022 Recommended Reads
If a nuclear strike killed 10,000 or 20,000 innocent Ukrainians, how would the United States or NATO respond?
article

The Ukraine Temptation

Stephen Wertheim April 12, 2022 Recommended Reads
Biden should reject a cold war strategy of dividing the world and keeping one half dependent on the United States.
article

Opportunity for Diplomacy: No Russian Attack Before Feb. 20

Graham Allison February 04, 2022 Recommended Reads
Most of the American foreign policy community has still not come to grips with the relationship that has developed between Russia and China in the decade since Xi Jinping became president.
article

Putin’s Wager in Russia’s Standoff With the West

Michael Kofman January 24, 2022 Recommended Reads
Putin may see diplomacy as a last-ditch effort to avert war in Ukraine, but Russia’s posture suggests that he is leaning toward a unilateral solution.
report

NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard

Svetlana Savranskaya and Tom Blanton December 12, 2017 Recommended Reads
Newly declassified documents lend credence to claims that Western leaders repeatedly reassured their Soviet counterparts in the early 1990s that NATO would not budge "one inch eastward."
policy brief

Russia’s New Conventional Capability: Implications for Eurasia and Beyond

Nikolai Sokov May 01, 2017 Recommended Reads
Russia’s new conventional-strike capability is significant for the West, whether or not the West wants to acknowledge it.