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.
interview

CIA Director Burns on Ukraine: ‘We’re Running Out of Time to Help Them’

George W. Bush Presidential Center April 25, 2024 Recommended Reads
William Burns sat down with David Kramer at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Forum on Leadership to discuss Russia, the Middle East, U.S. competition with China and the role of emerging technologies in the world of intelligence.
article

War With Ukraine as Other Means to Speed Up Reversal of Russia’s ‘Civilizational Choice’

Simon Saradzhyan August 12, 2022 RM Exclusives
One overlooked aim of the war in Ukraine is Putin's attempt to speed up a clean break from a “declining” West, so that Russia can blossom as a separate civilization in alignment with the “great civilization” of a “rising” China.
interview

Fiona Hill: Putin’s Running Out of Time

Foreign Policy July 14, 2022 Recommended Reads
In this interview, the former White House Russia adviser says Putin wants the Ukraine conflict over with.
article

Putin’s Perilous Imperial Dream

Cristina Florea May 10, 2022 Recommended Reads
Underpinning Putin’s righteous battle for Russians in Ukraine is an organic vision of Russian nationhood defined by blood and cultural and spiritual traits rather than by political contract or choice.
interview

Fiona Hill to Politico: Yes, Putin Would Use Nukes

RM Staff March 02, 2022 Recommended Reads
In this interview, the former U.S. National Security Council official discusses Putin's goals and motives in Ukraine and his indications that use of nuclear weapons is on the table.
article

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.
article

‘Green Burden’: How Global Climate Policies Could Impact Russia

Danila Bochkarev August 04, 2021 RM Exclusives
European carbon taxes and a broader push for less fossil fuel could cost Russia’s economy billions of dollars, nudging Moscow to adopt new policies.
survey

Expert Survey: How Will Climate Change Impact US-Russian Relations?

RM Staff January 28, 2021 RM Exclusives
Russia Matters asked four leading climate experts to weigh in on the impacts of climate change on Russia and the U.S., its effect on the global balance of power and how the Biden administration’s policies toward Russia may be shaped by this shared threat.
article

Alternative History: Would Russia in NATO and EU Be Game Changer in West’s Rivalry With China?

Simon Saradzhyan November 20, 2019 RM Exclusives
Quantitative measurements show that while Russia’s decision to align with the West rather than with China might not have been a game changer, it would have diminished the latter’s might vis-à-vis the West.