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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From Accepting NATO Aspirations to ‘Denazifying’: 20+ Years of Putin’s Changing Views on Ukraine

RM Staff June 16, 2022 RM Exclusives
Our review of 22 years of official statements makes it clear that, typically, Putin has publicly signaled shifts in his views on Ukraine before translating them into policy.
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Hoping for a Russia Without Putin: Biden Wasn’t the First, or the Last

RM Staff May 26, 2022 RM Exclusives
Would the world be better off with Putin out of power? In this compilation, we have gathered statements by Western and Russian commentators who state or suggest just that, or at least try to explain the thinking of those who hold such a view.
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Why Hasn’t Russia Unleashed ‘Cybergeddon’ in Its War on Ukraine?

RM Staff May 04, 2022 RM Exclusives
Some experts say expectations of cyber apocalypse have been overblown, while others argue Russia has already done plenty of cyber damage. Check out our compilation for what Russia’s use (and non-use) of cyber means in the war on Ukraine.
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Decoding Putin’s Speeches: The Three Ideological Lines of Russia’s Military Intervention in Ukraine

Marlene Laruelle and Ivan Grek February 25, 2022 RM Exclusives
Putin's Feb. 21 and Feb. 24 speeches have confirmed the construction of a narrative legitimizing the military intervention in Ukraine along three key ideological lines: a historical one, an ethnic one and a political one.
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Biden-Putin Call Solves Nothing, US Signals ‘Deterrence by Punishment’

Nikolas K. Gvosdev December 09, 2021 RM Exclusives
The call guarantees that the Biden administration is going to have to devote more attention and time to Moscow in 2022.
Competing Views on Russia

Olaf Scholz on Russia

Seth Myers November 30, 2021 RM Exclusives
In Germany's relations with Russia, Angela Merkel's successor has endorsed a new “European Ostpolitik,” or eastern policy, a reference to former SPD chancellors' attempts to ease relations with the Soviet Union through greater dialogue and diplomatic exchange.
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US-Russian Cyber Stability Needs ‘Drunken Party’ Approach: Limits, Deterrence and Communication

Joseph S. Nye October 06, 2021 RM Exclusives
Even though a cyber treaty would be unverifiable, it may be possible to set limits on certain types of behavior and to negotiate rough rules of the road by combining deterrence and norms and appealing to the self-interest of the states involved.
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Will Russian Behavior Toward the US/West 'Improve' When Putin Is Gone?

Aleksandra Srdanovic August 11, 2021 RM Exclusives
A collection of views from leading policy experts on what we can expect on the global stage from a post-Putin Russia.
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Potential Fruits of the Biden-Putin Summit

Simon Saradzhyan June 04, 2021 RM Exclusives
At the Putin-Biden summit, both sides will likely be looking for low-hanging fruits—issues they can easily agree upon that stand to advance U.S. and Russian interests with minimal concessions. In our latest exclusive, Simon Saradzhyan considers low-hanging fruits, like scientific cooperation, and more ambitious topics, such as rules of the road in the cyber domain.
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US SolarWinds Response Unlikely to Change Russia’s Behavior, Highlights Need for Improved Cyber Defense

Paul Kolbe April 27, 2021 RM Exclusives
However powerful our offensive cyber capability is, it has deterred neither China’s sustained campaign to erode our advantages nor Russia’s asymmetric use of low-cost tools to extract high-value intelligence, propaganda and political advantage.
Competing Views on Russia

Matthew Rojansky on Russia

Aleksandra Srdanovic April 15, 2021 RM Exclusives
Rojansky is a proponent of de-escalating tensions between Russia and the United States and identifying mutual areas of interest for cooperation. Check out our compilation for his observations and policy ideas.
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In the Wake of SolarWinds: Making and Breaking a Rules-Based Global Cyber Order

Anatol Lieven April 07, 2021 RM Exclusives
Few things have been more damaging to U.S. and European hopes of a “rules-based global order” than the perception that the U.S. both makes the rules and breaks them whenever it sees fit, including in cyberspace.
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