Russia Matters

Russia’s push to raise its pension age has sparked a public backlash, driving the president’s approval ratings to their lowest point in years. But Putin has survived worse, and is likely to bend before he breaks.

Henry Kissinger called the summit “a missed opportunity.” Russian experts pointed to concrete proposals on the Middle East, but also felt Moscow was underestimating the backlash Trump faces at home.

For now, at least, the U.S. will not help its Middle Eastern and European allies pursue their own engagement with Moscow, but will not interfere with it a great deal either.

From election interference and the war in Syria to praise for Putin and weaponized cold snaps—read over two years' worth of the president’s comments on Russia.

Expectations for the Helsinki summit were low, but the U.S. and Russia still managed to sail their listing bilateral ship directly into the rocks of the Russian cyber-meddling controversy.

The Shanghai Communique of 1972 dispensed with worn-out platitudes about cooperation and laid out the disputes between the U.S. and China. Doing so gave it an air of credibility. So what would a U.S.-Russian Helsinki Communique look like?

For more than two years Ukraine has been quietly “de-occupying” a gray zone between its troops and Russian-backed separatists. No matter how Russia and the West respond, Ukraine’s leadership stands to benefit.

The war in Syria has greatly expanded Russian-speaking extremist groups’ transnational networks in Europe and beyond, posing an international counterterrorism challenge for years to come.

Russia’s standing in the world—both real and perceived—has a profound impact on U.S. security and policies, as well as on Moscow's actions. This report offers a unique quantitative stocktaking of Russia’s national power.

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.