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

America and Russia: Back to Basics

Graham Allison August 14, 2017 Recommended Reads
Cold War tenets may be the Trump administration's best hope to keep Americans safe.
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The US Sanctions Bill Is a Win for Russia

Angela Stent July 28, 2017 Recommended Reads
The EU may rethink its own sanctions regime if the U.S. sanctions bill moves forward. This, of course, would be good news for the Kremlin.
podcast

From the Tsardom of Muscovy to Nuclear Cooperation: Podcasts on Russia

Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia June 19, 2017 Partner Posts
Throughout the summer, the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia will host expert lectures and seminars on a variety of topics ranging from history and art to diplomacy and nonproliferation. As the symposium progresses, these lectures will be made available as podcasts.
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These Two Former Intelligence Chiefs Differ Sharply on Russia and Trump

Paul J. Saunders May 15, 2017 Recommended Reads
Former U.S. intelligence chiefs James Clapper and Robert Gates are a study in contrasts in how they how they view Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and wider relations between the countries.
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A Strategy for (Modestly Increasing the Chance of) Saving the INF Treaty

James M. Acton May 11, 2017 RM Exclusives
While it’s highly unlikely that Russia will return to compliance with the INF Treaty, the U.S. should make every effort to save the agreement by creating three realities that Moscow can’t ignore.
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.
article

Tom Friedman Is Calling for a Partition of Syria: Trump Should Run the Other Way

Stephen M. Walt April 07, 2017 Recommended Reads
Sending U.S. troops into Syria is not a solution. After all, the U.S. does not have the best track record when it comes to intervention in the Middle East.
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Applying Lessons of US-Russian Space Cooperation to Revive Nuclear Security Partnership Between Moscow and Washington

Simon Saradzhyan and William Tobey March 14, 2017 Recommended Reads
The U.S. and Russia should infer lessons from their joint exploration of space to revive their nuclear security cooperation.
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Damage Done: How Russia Hysteria Has Hurt US-Russia Relations

Nikolas K. Gvosdev March 06, 2017 Recommended Reads
Cooperation and communication between Russia and the U.S. is a diplomatic necessity, but the previously difficult task of creating a normal bilateral encounter may now be all but impossible.
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Neo-McCarthyite Furor Around Russia Is Counterproductive

Katrina vanden Heuvel February 21, 2017 Recommended Reads
In this political climate, common sense is being lost and important questions are not being addressed.
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Russia’s Role in the US Elections: The Case for Caution

George Beebe December 16, 2016
Despite Moscow’s clear preference for the Republican presidential candidate and forensic data traceable back to Russia, the U.S. must act with caution in order to avoid falling into the same traps it found itself in over a decade ago.
article

Nuclear War is No Longer "Unthinkable" for Russia

Nikolas K. Gvosdev December 07, 2016 Partner Posts
The newly-released "Foreign Policy Concept" of the Russian Federation contains some interesting changes and updates. Given that this document reflects the Kremlin's strategic mindset and how it views international relations, it is important to take what is says seriously.