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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Georgian Democracy Stumbles Onward After Parliament Deal

Terrell Jermaine Starr April 26, 2021 Recommended Reads
A six-month stalemate over vote-rigging accusations has been partially, but messily, resolved.
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We Need to Have a Talk About Alexei Navalny

Terrell Jermaine Starr March 01, 2021 Recommended Reads
If Navalny is serious about challenging the current regime, Russians—and the outside world—have a right to know precisely whom we’re dealing with.
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Opportunities in Ukraine Too Limited to Provide White Supremacists With Military Training

Huseyn Aliyev November 12, 2020 RM Exclusives
Ukraine is likely to serve as a hypothetical “dreamland” for foreign white supremacists. However, the likelihood of international far-right visitors acquiring actual military training or battlefield experience is minimal.  
book review

Russia’s ‘Neo-Imperialism’ Is a Product of Complex Factors

Simon Saradzhyan November 10, 2020 RM Exclusives
Domitilla Sagramoso’s “Russian Imperialism Revisited” is perhaps the most comprehensive recent volume in first identifying the panoply of factors that have led to Russia’s “imperialist relapse” and then detailing how they evolved.
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The Curious Case of ‘Russian Lives Matter’

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon July 11, 2020 Recommended Reads
In Moscow, the Kremlin attacks U.S. racism while the liberal opposition ignores it, or worse.
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Acknowledging Policy Shortcomings Is First Step to Solving America’s Russia Problem

Paul Saunders March 12, 2020 RM Exclusives
America’s government and its foreign policy elites need to make a greater effort to develop effective policies toward countries in regions where rival great powers—China and Russia—have greater capabilities and/or resolve to advance their goals.
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Contending With—Not Accepting—Spheres of Influence

Steven Pifer March 05, 2020 RM Exclusives
While Washington does have to deal with Russia's efforts to establish a sphere of influence in its neighborhood, that doesn't mean the U.S. should accept the legitimacy of those efforts.
multimedia

After the Colored Revolution

Sean's Russia Blog February 19, 2020 Partner Posts
In this episode of Sean's Russia Blog, host and Eurasia expert Sean Guillory speaks with Vasili Rukhadze, a visiting lecturer of political science at the University of Pittsburgh, about post-color revolution regimes.
multimedia

Video: The Prospects for US-Russia Arms Control

Center for Strategic and International Studies January 15, 2020
With the demise of the INF Treaty and an unclear future for New START, what could future U.S.-Russian arms control look like?

book review

Rice and Zelikow on ‘Catalytic Choices’

Simon Saradzhyan November 13, 2019 RM Exclusives
The former U.S. officials examine catalytic episodes in history and the choices late Cold War and post-Cold War leaders were faced with in those critical moments.
book review

How the US Managed, and Mismanaged, Russia: A Superstar Diplomat Tells His Story

Graham Allison March 12, 2019 RM Exclusives
William Burns’ new book describes his warnings to the Bush administration that pushing for NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine would spur Moscow to use armed force in the former and to meddle in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.
multimedia

Video: Experts Discuss the Politics of New START and Strategic Nuclear Modernization

Brookings Institution January 07, 2019
Panelists at a Brookings event discuss the 2010 New START negotiations, the current state of the debate and steps that could be taken to maintain a level of bipartisanship moving forward.