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.
article

The Bully in the Bubble

Adam E. Casey and Seva Gunitsky February 04, 2022 Recommended Reads
Putin and the perils of information isolation.
article

With Putin, Biden Should Channel His Inner Realist

Stephen Wertheim February 03, 2022 Recommended Reads
A contest of ideas is hobbling U.S. policy in the standoff over Ukraine.
article

Putin Has Off-Ramps: Let’s Not Block Them

Henry Hale and Adam Lenton February 02, 2022 Recommended Reads
Accounts claiming Putin has passed the point of no return overlook key sources of Putin’s domestic appeal, which is based much more on pragmatically providing stability, security, and prosperity than on aggressiveness.
article

When Redlines Fail

Dan Altman and Kathleen Powers February 02, 2022 Recommended Reads
Washington should create the strongest possible incentive for Putin to stand down by making clear that U.S. sanctions will be maximized if Russia invades and minimized if it does not.
article

Taiwan Is Not Ukraine: Stop Linking Their Fates Together

Kharis Templeman January 27, 2022 Recommended Reads
In the current geopolitical moment, the differences between Ukraine and Taiwan are far more important than their similarities—and linking together the security threats that the two countries face can make both situations worse.
column

We Need to Have a Talk About Alexei Navalny

Terrell Jermaine Starr March 01, 2021 Recommended Reads
If Navalny is serious about challenging the current regime, Russians—and the outside world—have a right to know precisely whom we’re dealing with.
article

Navalny’s Bravery Is Unlikely to Shift Putin’s Entrenched Power

Jeff Hawn January 25, 2021 Recommended Reads
While Alexei Navalny’s return to Russia following his poisoning with Novichok five months prior was a brave act, it has almost no chance of immediately deposing the current regime.
article

How Russia Wins the Climate Crisis

Abrahm Lustgarten December 16, 2020 Recommended Reads
While the consequences of climate change could be catastrophic for much of the world, for Russia, they could be just the opposite.
column

The Curious Case of ‘Russian Lives Matter’

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon July 11, 2020 Recommended Reads
In Moscow, the Kremlin attacks U.S. racism while the liberal opposition ignores it, or worse.