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.
research paper

Lessons for Leaders: What Afghanistan Taught Russian and Soviet Strategists

Simon Saradzhyan February 28, 2019 RM Exclusives
Moscow’s military intervention in Afghanistan lasted nearly a decade (1979-1989). It cost the USSR dearly in blood, treasure and power, but imparted lessons as well. Can some of these prove useful to the U.S. today?
issue brief

The INF Quandary: Preventing a Nuclear Arms Race in Europe. Perspectives from the US, Russia and Germany

William Tobey, Pavel Zolotarev and Ulrich Kühn January 24, 2019 RM Exclusives
The 1987 INF Treaty now faces an existential threat that could lead to intermediate-range missiles targeting the entire European continent. Three experts weigh in on the consequences and prospects.
interview

‘Above All, Avoid Zeal’: EastWest’s Cameron Munter on Russia’s Relations With the West

RM Staff September 07, 2018 RM Exclusives
A veteran U.S. diplomat specializing in conflict resolution weighs in on the potential for U.S.-Russian cooperation, as well as the threats, obstacles and prospects facing both countries.
research paper

China-Russia Relations: Same Bed, Different Dreams? Why Converging Interests Are Unlikely to Lead to a Full-Fledged Alliance

Simon Saradzhyan and Ali Wyne June 07, 2018 RM Exclusives
China and Russia’s shared interests have brought them closer together, but growing disparities between the two make a formal alliance unlikely, unless two conditions emerge—including a weakened, isolated Russia.
issue brief

The Durability of Russian Military Power: Moscow’s Prospects for Sustaining Direct Competition

Michael Kofman May 25, 2018 Recommended Reads
Russia's success in restoring its military power gives it greater leverage on the international stage, and Moscow is increasingly using this threat of force to underwrite its foreign policy.
podcast

Of Russian Military Reforms From Georgia to Syria

Center for Strategic and International Studies May 22, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of Russian Roulette, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program expert Olga Oliker sits down with defense analyst Anton Lavrov to discuss Russian military reforms, what new capabilities Russia demonstrated in Syria and where the Russian military may (or may not) be heading.
podcast

Of US-Russia Relations and What Is to Be Done

Center for Strategic and International Studies April 10, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of the Russian Roulette podcast, hosts and CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program experts Olga Oliker and Jeffrey Mankoff sit down with Matthew Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute, to discuss the state of U.S.-Russia relations, historical cycles in the relationship, signaling and ways out of the current downward spiral.
podcast

Of Gorbachev, and of Writing About Gorbachev

Center for Strategic and International Studies March 28, 2018 Partner Posts
In this episode of the Russian Roulette podcast, hosts and CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program experts Olga Oliker and Jeffrey Mankoff sit down with William Taubman to discuss the subject of his most recent biography, Mikhail Gorbachev.
podcast

Cooperative Threat Reduction or: How I Stopped Worrying and Got Rid of the Bomb

Nukes of Hazard September 15, 2017 Recommended Reads
Former U.S. Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, along with former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense Andrew Weber, discuss the challenge of securing and eliminating the disintegrating Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal at the end of the Cold War in this Nukes of Hazard podcast. 
interview

Sen. Sam Nunn: 'We Have a Choice Between Cooperation or Catastrophe'

Mariana Budjeryn June 20, 2017 RM Exclusives
The veteran U.S. lawmaker, who played a key role in dismantling and safeguarding the nuclear weapons of a disintegrating Soviet Union, reflects on the program’s motives, impact and shortcomings.
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.
research paper

Illusions vs. Reality: Twenty-Five Years of US Policy Toward Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia

Eugene Rumer, Richard Sokolsky, Paul Stronski and Andrew S. Weiss February 09, 2017 Recommended Reads
Long-standing disagreements on national security interests and policies will make repairing the U.S.-Russian relationship challenging.
Refine & Filter

By Section

By Topic

By Country

By Regions

By Genre