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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A Demographic Trap and Low Growth Are Putin’s Biggest Challenges

John Dizard January 17, 2020 Recommended Reads
Despite Western expectations of reports of doom and gloom from Russia, the country is in fact adopting expansionary economic and social policies that appear to be financially sustainable.
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Alternative History: Would Russia in NATO and EU Be Game Changer in West’s Rivalry With China?

Simon Saradzhyan November 20, 2019 RM Exclusives
Quantitative measurements show that while Russia’s decision to align with the West rather than with China might not have been a game changer, it would have diminished the latter’s might vis-à-vis the West.
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Why Putin Sounds Alt-Right Though He Really Isn’t

Leonid Bershidsky November 06, 2019 Recommended Reads
Bershidsky argues that "Putin sees Trump, Brexiters, the European far right and alt-right as his natural allies against the established global order, one of steady alliances and stable multilateral organizations."
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What Cheese can Tell us About US-Russia Relations

Stephen Kinzer September 19, 2019 Recommended Reads
While traveling across Russia, Kinzer noted that “[t]he quality of Russian life has risen along with the quality of its cheese. Russians have decided to go their own way and not worry too much about us. We should return the favor.”
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Experts on Putin: 20 Years in Power

RM Staff August 07, 2019 RM Exclusives
Some of America’s best-informed experts on Russia offer a wealth of insights into President Vladimir Putin’s rule, objectives, historical context and personality.
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How to Enlarge NATO: The Debate Inside the Clinton Administration, 1993–95

Mary Elise Sarotte July 29, 2019 Recommended Reads
Pleas from Central and Eastern European leaders, missteps by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and victory by the pro-expansion Republican Party in the 1994 U.S. congressional election all helped advocates of full-membership enlargement to win.
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Can Washington and Moscow Agree to Limit Political Interference?

Samuel Charap and Ivan Timofeev June 13, 2019 Recommended Reads
The concept of elaborating norms of non-interference on a mutual basis might be the best way to stabilize U.S.-Russian relations and prevent the damaging episodes of recent years from happening again.
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The Golunov Case Exposes Russia’s ‘Submerged State’

Alexey Yeremenko June 13, 2019 Recommended Reads
The 'submerged-state' is the level of government most often interacted with by investors and is capable of derailing the policies of the ‘outer state.’
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Understanding Methods of Elite Repression in Russia

Nikolai Petrov June 04, 2019 Recommended Reads
The targets of elite repression in Russia show that these people were chosen not for their corruption or violating some informal rules, but rather to send signals to certain groups within the elite.
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Russia’s National Projects: Economic Reboot or Mucky Bog?

Ben Aris May 30, 2019 RM Exclusives
Putin’s $390 billion spending program could deepen the crisis of confidence among entrepreneurs and investors—a bigger threat to Russia’s long-term economic prospects than sanctions.
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Putin Wants to Dissolve the Russian People and Elect Another

Alexander Baunov February 06, 2019 Recommended Reads
Vladimir Putin's popular support is waning as he approaches Russia's 2024 presidential transition. In his efforts to seek out a new base, talk of stability goes out the window.
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Gangster Geopolitics: The Kremlin’s Use of Criminals as Assets Abroad

Mark Galeotti January 17, 2019 RM Exclusives
Since the worsening of relations with the West in 2014, the Kremlin has increasingly adopted a “mobilization state” approach, turning to any available foreign-policy levers. Gangsters are no exception.
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