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.
explainer

Can International Law Bring a Measure of Justice to Ukraine?

Kevin Jon Heller March 22, 2023 RM Exclusives
Very few options currently exist for prosecuting the high-ranking Russian government and military leaders who are responsible for the invasion.
issue brief

With New START Setbacks Challenging Arms Control, US Must Work to Reduce Chances of Nuclear War, With or Without Russia

Leonor Tomero  March 15, 2023 RM Exclusives
Key goals are to invest in more resilient deterrence and to understand whether the two countries' views on strategic stability have fundamentally diverged.
article

Sanctions Against Russia Ignore the Economic Challenges Facing Ukraine

Nicholas Mulder February 09, 2023 Recommended Reads
The West has shown that it possesses the tools to destroy the growth prospects of import-dependent middle-income economies. But sanctions have failed to cause crippling and insurmountable problems of the kind that will cause the collapse of either the Russian economy or Mr. Putin’s war effort.
Clues from Russian Views

Devoted to Putin: Volodin's Views on Russia, the West and the Rest

RM Staff January 27, 2023 RM Exclusives
Despite his mastery of reductionist flattery and "unlimited devotion" to Putin, the speaker of the State Duma likely isn't a member of the Russian president's inner-most circle. Still, he may have a shot at the Kremlin when Putin steps down.
article

NPR 2022 Recognizes Importance of Risk Reduction, Falls Short on Reducing Role of Nukes

Leonor Tomero December 26, 2022 RM Exclusives
The latest Nuclear Posture Review maintains focus on both nuclear modernization and arms control/risk reduction as essential elements of deterrence but, in a way, seems to have broadened the role of nuclear weapons.
policy brief

How Have Sanctions Impacted Russia?

Maria Demertzis, Benjamin Hilgenstock, Ben McWilliams, Elina Ribakova and Simone Tagliapietra October 26, 2022 Recommended Reads
This paper assesses both the immediate economic impact and the likely longer-term impact of sanctions on the Russian economy.
Clues from Russian Views

The World According to Patrushev

Simon Saradzhyan and Angelina Flood October 07, 2022 RM Exclusives
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, often comes up when discussion turns to possible Putin successors. Check out our compilation for some of his views on issues that impact important U.S. interests.
Clues from Russian Views

‘We Fight How We Can’: Russian Views on Ukraine’s Counteroffensive—How It Happened and What Comes Next

RM Staff September 16, 2022 RM Exclusives
The response in Russia’s pro-war camp to Ukraine’s success generally fell into three categories: spin, spleen and silence.
article

On The Design of Effective Sanctions: The Case of Bans on Exports to Russia

Ricardo Hausmann, Ulrich Schetter and Muhammed A. Yildirim September 01, 2022 Partner Posts
Well-coordinated sanctions can substantially increase costs to Russia with minimal impact on sanctioning countries, researchers find after examining the impact of export bans on 5,000 products.
Clues from Russian Views

Sanctions Trap. Which Sanctions Work, Which Do Not and Which Are More Dangerous for Russia Than They Seem

Sergey Aleksashenko, Oleg Buklemishev, Oleg Vyugin, Kirill Rogov and Yulia Starostina July 12, 2022
In this analysis for The Bell, experts discuss which Western sanctions work, which don’t and how they impact the Russian economy.
article

Why Hasn’t Russia Unleashed ‘Cybergeddon’ in Its War on Ukraine?

RM Staff May 04, 2022 RM Exclusives
Some experts say expectations of cyber apocalypse have been overblown, while others argue Russia has already done plenty of cyber damage. Check out our compilation for what Russia’s use (and non-use) of cyber means in the war on Ukraine.
article

Biden’s Dangerous New Ukraine Endgame: No Endgame

Michael Hirsh April 28, 2022 Recommended Reads
"Putin has year by year reintroduced nuclear weapons into his conventional war calculations. … Yet Putin has never come this close to threatening to use them, nor has he made clear if or how he might do so," the author writes.
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