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

What Do Americans Care About? Not a Cold War With Russia and China

Katrina vanden Heuvel September 20, 2022 Recommended Reads
Asked about the most urgent issue facing the country today, 27% of Americans—the highest number—ranked inflation as No. 1, while only 2% ranked Ukraine at the top.
article

The World Putin Wants

Fiona Hill and Angela Stent August 25, 2022 Recommended Reads
Russia’s president ordered his "special military operation" because he believes that it is Russia’s divine right to rule Ukraine, to wipe out the country’s national identity and to integrate its people into a Greater Russia.
article

Ukraine’s Accession to the EU: Relations With Member States and Implications for the Balance of Power

Kai-Olaf Lang July 22, 2022 Recommended Reads
On the one hand, Ukraine aims to join the EU because it wants “more Europe.” On the other hand, a state fighting for its independence in war will be reluctant to allow sovereignty to be “pooled.”
article

Challenges to Internal Security and the Rule of Law From an EU Perspective

Raphael Bossong July 22, 2022 Recommended Reads
The rapidly growing availability of weapons in Ukraine, the country's widespread corruption and weak rule of law and challenges to the eventual securing of ceasefire lines all pose a significant risk to the EU’s internal security.
interview

Fiona Hill: Putin’s Running Out of Time

Foreign Policy July 14, 2022 Recommended Reads
In this interview, the former White House Russia adviser says Putin wants the Ukraine conflict over with.
article

The Causes and Consequences of the Ukraine War

John J. Mearsheimer June 23, 2022 Recommended Reads
The United States has pushed forward policies toward Ukraine that Putin and other Russian leaders see as an existential threat, a point they have made repeatedly for many years.
article

The Russia-Ukraine War: A Setback for Arms Control

Steven Pifer May 23, 2022 Recommended Reads
The Kremlin seems intent on achieving a victory on the battlefield, while relations between the West and Russia plummet to new lows. One casualty: U.S.-Russian arms control negotiations.
article

The Russian Military’s People Problem

Dara Massicot May 18, 2022 Recommended Reads
The culture of indifference to its personnel fundamentally compromises the Russian military’s efficacy, no matter how extensively it has been modernized.
article

Can Russia Be Made to Pay for Ukraine?

Sam Fleming, Joseph Cotterill, James Politi and Robin Wigglesworth May 17, 2022 Recommended Reads
Scholars and lawyers are warning the decision to confiscate frozen Russian foreign exchange reserves, while tempting, would be fraught with risk, legally questionable and could generate unintended consequences.
article

No Marshall Plan For Ukraine

Benn Steil May 13, 2022 Recommended Reads
Long-term, credible internal and external security is a precondition for a successful Marshall Plan in Ukraine, and the United States and its allies are incapable of providing it.
article

Putin’s Invasion Was Immoral but Not Irrational

Mark F. Cancian May 10, 2022 Recommended Reads
Evaluating Putin’s decision requires capturing what was known at the time, not what became evident later.
article

Putin’s Perilous Imperial Dream

Cristina Florea May 10, 2022 Recommended Reads
Underpinning Putin’s righteous battle for Russians in Ukraine is an organic vision of Russian nationhood defined by blood and cultural and spiritual traits rather than by political contract or choice.
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