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 May Have Violated the INF Treaty. Here's How the United States Appears to Have Done the Same.

Theodore A. Postol February 07, 2019
The death of INF involved violations on both sides, as Russia developed a cruise missile that allegedly broke weapon range rules while the U.S. built missile interception facilities in Eastern Europe with defense and attack dual-capability.
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Killing the INF Treaty was a Gift to Russia

Jon Wolfsthal February 07, 2019
Withdrawing now from the INF Treaty is a fundamental mistake of the Trump presidency, absolving Russia of its arms violations and removing the most effective tool for decreasing the likelihood of nuclear crisis.
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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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Mixed Messages on Trump’s Missile Defense Review

Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen January 17, 2019 Recommended Reads
Despite the document’s assertion that “Missile Defenses are Stabilizing,” the Missile Defense Review promotes a posture that is anything but.
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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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Isolation and Reconquista: Russia’s Toolkit as a Constrained Great Power

Marlene Laruelle December 12, 2018 RM Exclusives
As relations with the West languish, Moscow has built a dual strategy, positioning itself at once as beleaguered and triumphant, an alternative to the U.S.-led world order. In the short term, this is probably its best bet.
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US Security and Russia: Choices and Consequences

Jill Dougherty and Thomas Zamostny December 07, 2018 Partner Posts
America’s current strategy toward Russia, simply put, is not working; instead, it’s tying our hands. It’s making Russia more aggressive externally and less democratic internally. The dangers are escalating.
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Putin Doesn’t Sweat His Unpopularity

Nate Reynolds November 28, 2018 Recommended Reads
Russian President Vladimir Putin's dip in popularity will mostly prove that he is far more resilient than the West would like to think.
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Why Violence Is Becoming the Norm in Russia

Vladimir Ruvinsky November 19, 2018 Recommended Reads
A recent survey shows that Russians are increasingly tolerant of violence and cruelty.
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The Lessons of World War I Still Haunt Russia Today

Nikolas K. Gvosdev November 10, 2018 Recommended Reads
The current Russian political and strategic establishment sees in World War I and the Revolution a cautionary tale of what the Russian leadership at the beginning of this century must do to avoid repeating those disasters.
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Putin Deepens Confusion About Russian Nuclear Policy

Abigail Stowe-Thurston, Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen October 25, 2018 RM Exclusives
Rather than strengthening deterrence, ambiguity surrounding U.S. and Russian nuclear thresholds is causing both sides to make dangerous assumptions about one another’s intentions.
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Machiavellian Lessons From the Saudi and Russian Assassination Debacles

George Beebe October 20, 2018 Recommended Reads
Gratuitous political killing is not just a crime—it is a mistake.
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