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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Russia-Ukraine War Alert: What’s Behind It and What Lies Ahead?

Dmitri Trenin April 13, 2021 Recommended Reads
Going overkill in terms of military maneuvers on the Ukrainian border now may avoid the need to do terrible things at a later point.
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Russia's Military Buildup Near Ukraine Is an Intimidation Tactic

Michael Kofman April 03, 2021 Recommended Reads
Russia's military posturing appears to be primarily coercive and demonstrative in nature.
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It’s Better to Deal with China and Russia in Tandem

Thomas Graham and Robert Legvold February 04, 2021 Recommended Reads
Putting China and Russia into policy silos will be counterproductive.
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Should U.S. Missile Defenses Be a Part of Arms Control Negotiations With Russia?

Steven Pifer January 26, 2021 Recommended Reads
The Biden administration should consider whether the benefits to United States and allied security of limiting all nuclear weapons, including non-strategic nuclear arms, would justify accepting some constraints on missile defense.
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The United States and the NATO Non-extension Assurances of 1990: New Light on an Old Problem?

Marc Trachtenberg January 25, 2021 Recommended Reads
An examination of the debate on NATO accession leads to the conclusion that Russian allegations of U.S. assurances of NATO's non-expansion into former Warsaw Pact states are not baseless. This affects our understanding of the U.S.-Russian relationship today.
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A New Path Forward for NATO and Russia

Sergey Rogov, Adam Thomson and Alexander Vershbow December 07, 2020 Recommended Reads
Relations between NATO member states and Russia are complex and troubled. It will take concerted efforts by both sides to move their interaction to a more positive plane.
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Putin, Putinism and the Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy

Michael McFaul October 19, 2020 Partner Posts
For a complete understanding of Russian foreign policy today, individuals, ideas, and institutions—President Vladimir Putin, Putinism, and autocracy—must be added to the analysis. Putin's ideas about illiberalism, orthodoxy, sovereignty and the West shaped his decision-making in unique ways. 
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A Conversation Between Graham Allison and Angela Stent

Graham Allison and Angela Stent August 01, 2020 Recommended Reads
The U.S. leadership is slowly waking up to the reality of a Russia-China entente. This is an unnatural partnership. But U.S. policies have driven China and Russia closer, and Putin and Xi have managed their differences well.
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In the Chaos of Syrian Geopolitics, Russia Remains Dominant

Kamal Alam May 15, 2020 Recommended Reads
Recent talk of a rift between Moscow and Damascus may ignore Russia’s historic role in Syria.
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Russia’s Coronavirus Response Reveals Its Strengths and Weaknesses

Judy Twigg April 11, 2020 Recommended Reads
Some of Russia’s inherent structural and demographic factors may help it cope. Others put it at a disadvantage.
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Could the Coronavirus Destabilize Russia?

Nikolas K. Gvosdev April 06, 2020 Recommended Reads
There is a very real fear that the virus will overwhelm a brittle and underfunded health system. Combined with an economic shock, that could shake up the Russian political system.
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The Problem With Fearmongering About Russian Electoral Interference

Joseph Haker and Andrew Paul February 24, 2020 Recommended Reads
Blaming outsiders distracts attention from the very real domestic problems that make "disinformation" campaigns coherent in the first place.
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