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.
Competing Views on Russia

William Burns on Russia

Daniel Shapiro and RM Staff September 19, 2023 RM Exclusives
What has the CIA director said on Russia? Check out our compilation for some of Burns' observations and policy ideas regarding Russia.
article

Rattling the Nuclear Saber: What Russia’s Nuclear Threats Really Mean

Lauren Sukin May 04, 2023 Recommended Reads
It is precisely because of, and not in spite of, the fact that Moscow and Pyongyang have repeatedly held their nuclear arsenals over Western heads that leaders should take these threats seriously.
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Russia-Belarus Nuclear Sharing Would Mirror NATO’s—and Worsen Europe’s Security

Nikolai N. Sokov July 01, 2022 Recommended Reads
Putin’s decision to deploy dual-capable missiles in Belarus raises three obvious questions: Why? Why now? Is the decision reversible?
Competing Views on Russia

Victoria Nuland on Russia

Daniel Shapiro February 03, 2021 RM Exclusives
Biden's pick for undersecretary of state for political affairs has held a number of positions related to the post-Soviet space. Check out our compilation for some of Nuland's observations and policy ideas regarding Russia and the U.S.-Russian relationship.
Competing Views on Russia

2020 US Presidential Candidates on Russia: What Have They Said So Far?

Daniel Shapiro, Thomas Schaffner and Angelina Flood March 17, 2020 RM Exclusives
Updated! With the primaries underway, it is worth remembering what the candidates have said about their would-be Russia policies if elected. (Originally published May 23, 2019.)
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.
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Syria and the Call of the Quagmire

Paul R. Pillar April 06, 2017 Recommended Reads
America's immersion into the Syrian civil war carries with it the risk of widespread warfare.
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Why Russia Values a Non-Nuclear Iran More Than Higher Oil Prices

Simon Saradzhyan August 11, 2016 Recommended Reads
Although it could have benefited from the failure of nuclear talks with Iran, Russia still chose to support the July 2015 deal. The possible reasons why Moscow chose to support the deal provide a lesson for world leaders looking to build a constructive relationship with Russia on the basis of shared interest.
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A Path Out of the Middle East Collapse

Henry Kissinger October 16, 2015 Recommended Reads
With Russia increasingly filling the power vacuum in the Middle East left by inconstant U.S. policy, the American government must work with all available parties to combat major threats to stability.
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