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.
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Russia’s Nuclear-Capable Missiles: A Question of Escalation Control

William Alberque March 15, 2024 Recommended Reads
Aspects of Moscow’s military strategy in Ukraine, including its deployment of dual-use missile systems, have offered some potential insights into its nuclear-weapons doctrine.
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Russia's Opposition Has Lost a Crucial Leader but Gained a Martyr

The Economist February 20, 2024 Recommended Reads
Alexei Navalny’s death is a sign of how Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship has transformed.
Competing Views on Russia

General David Petraeus on the Russia-Ukraine War

Kate Davidson, Conor Cunningham and RM Staff December 21, 2023 RM Exclusives
Petraeus shared with Harvard students, faculty and staff the insights he has outlined in his most recent book, co-authored with Andrew Roberts, "Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine."
Competing Views on Russia

Kissinger on Russia: Insights and Recommendations

RM Staff and Associates December 01, 2023 RM Exclusives
In a compilation of remarks, newly updated following the eminent U.S. statesman's passing, Kissinger offers ways to reconcile America’s necessities with Russia’s concerns.
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Why the Wagner Group Cannot Be Easily Absorbed by the Russian Military—and What That Means for the West

Kimberly Marten September 01, 2023 RM Exclusives
In one shape or another, the Wagner Group is likely to continue operating in the interests of Putin’s regime outside Russia, regardless of whether it comes under MoD command and the costs of doing so.
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A World Transformed and the Role of Intelligence

William J Burns July 01, 2023 Recommended Reads
'We are ... at an inflection point. The post-Cold War era is definitely over. Our task is to shape what comes next,' says CIA Director William Burns, as he delivers the 59th Ditchley Annual Lecture.
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The moment when Putin turned away from the West

David Ignatius March 09, 2023 Recommended Reads
Bush had maintained a surprisingly close relationship with the Russian leader, centered on a counterterrorism alliance. The United States was battling al-Qaeda at the time; Russia was fighting Chechen separatists. But Putin came to believe that America was an unreliable, hypocritical partner — and that belief would curdle into the open feud that has deepened, year by year.
Competing Views on Russia

Kevin McCarthy on Russia, Ukraine and US Interests

RM Staff January 13, 2023 RM Exclusives
As newly elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the 57-year-old congressman has become much more consequential for U.S. foreign policy.
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How Silent Assent Made Bucha Possible

Andrei Kolesnikov April 07, 2022 Recommended Reads
Those who approve or stay silent bear, at the very least, collective responsibility for what is happening in their own country and what the state is doing.
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Putin Is Angry, But He Isn’t Mad

Michael O’Hanlon March 09, 2022 Recommended Reads
He’s acted with arrogance and recklessness in Ukraine, but there’s ample historical precedent for his errors.
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Putin’s Rationality and Escalation in Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Kimberly Marten March 09, 2022 Recommended Reads
To understand whether Putin is likely to attack a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member-state or use nuclear weapons, it is helpful to consider a standard social science definition of rationality.
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What’s Eating Putin?

Rose Gottemoeller March 03, 2022 Recommended Reads
As horrific and needless violence unfolds in Ukraine, my friends, family, colleagues, and media from around the world have all been asking the same questions: What’s eating Putin?
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