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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Biden's Ukraine Dilemma: Balancing Democratic Ideals, Russia Tensions and US-China Rivalry

Paul Saunders April 26, 2023 RM Exclusives
Of the Ukraine policy options available to Biden, staying the course might seem especially attractive, but if the Ukrainian offensive fails, it could weaken the negotiating leverage that the Biden administration is working to amass in Kyiv, while also undercutting political support for Zelensky in Ukraine and in the West.
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Nuclear Weapons in Belarus: History Repeats Itself

William Alberque March 31, 2023 RM Exclusives
Russia’s increasingly violent nuclear rhetoric and basing of nuclear weapons in Belarus are to be condemned. However, these developments do not alter the balance of power in Europe, nor do they significantly alter the risk of nuclear conflict.
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The moment when Putin turned away from the West

David Ignatius March 09, 2023 Recommended Reads
Bush had maintained a surprisingly close relationship with the Russian leader, centered on a counterterrorism alliance. The United States was battling al-Qaeda at the time; Russia was fighting Chechen separatists. But Putin came to believe that America was an unreliable, hypocritical partner — and that belief would curdle into the open feud that has deepened, year by year.
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Sanctions Against Russia Ignore the Economic Challenges Facing Ukraine

Nicholas Mulder February 09, 2023 Recommended Reads
The West has shown that it possesses the tools to destroy the growth prospects of import-dependent middle-income economies. But sanctions have failed to cause crippling and insurmountable problems of the kind that will cause the collapse of either the Russian economy or Mr. Putin’s war effort.
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Russia and Ukraine Have Incentives to Negotiate. The U.S. Has Other Plans

Christopher Caldwell February 07, 2023 Recommended Reads
Russia has more than three times Ukraine’s population, an intact economy and superior military technology. At the same time, Russia has its own problems; until recently, a shortage of soldiers and the vulnerability of its arms depots to missile strikes have slowed its westward progress.
Clues from Russian Views

Destructive distillation of arms

Alexey Arbatov February 06, 2023 Recommended Reads
12 years ago, on February 5, 2011, the treaty on the reduction of strategic offensive arms came into force - the last major treaty that still links Russia and the United States in the military sphere. Exactly 3 years later, it will expire, and what will happen then?
Clues from Russian Views

Devoted to Putin: Volodin's Views on Russia, the West and the Rest

RM Staff January 27, 2023 RM Exclusives
Despite his mastery of reductionist flattery and "unlimited devotion" to Putin, the speaker of the State Duma likely isn't a member of the Russian president's inner-most circle. Still, he may have a shot at the Kremlin when Putin steps down.
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No, Weakening Russia Is Not “Costing Peanuts” for the U.S.

Trita Parsi January 20, 2023 Recommended Reads
As support slips for military funding to Ukraine, some analysts argue that America is getting a great deal for its money. But there are a lot of strategic costs that don’t show up on the balance sheet.
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8 Lessons for Taiwan From Russia’s War in Ukraine

Tzu-yun Su January 18, 2023 RM Exclusives
While the fighting in Ukraine is on land, and thus very different from the maritime battlefield that would surround Taiwan, there are still many things this island nation can learn from Ukraine's defensive operations.
Competing Views on Russia

Kevin McCarthy on Russia, Ukraine and US Interests

RM Staff January 13, 2023 RM Exclusives
As newly elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the 57-year-old congressman has become much more consequential for U.S. foreign policy.
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Keeping Putin From Going Nuclear: Can Xi and Modi Help?

Simon Saradzhyan September 29, 2022 RM Exclusives
The collective West is right to take Putin’s nuclear threats seriously, but efforts to dissuade him require the pro-active involvement of China and India.
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Still ‘No Limits’? The China-Russia Partnership After Samarkand

Elizabeth Wishnick September 22, 2022 RM Exclusives
Despite their many conflicts of interest in Ukraine and elsewhere, Russia and China continue to be bound together, both by geopolitical factors and by their deep need for regime security.
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