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 Putin Doctrine: A Move on Ukraine Has Always Been Part of the Plan

Angela Stent January 27, 2022 Recommended Reads
As the United States and its allies await Russia’s next move and try to deter an invasion with diplomacy and the threat of heavy sanctions, they need to understand Putin’s motives and what they portend.
article

Putin’s Wager in Russia’s Standoff With the West

Michael Kofman January 24, 2022 Recommended Reads
Putin may see diplomacy as a last-ditch effort to avert war in Ukraine, but Russia’s posture suggests that he is leaning toward a unilateral solution.
survey

Russian Troops Near Ukraine’s Border: How Should the West Respond?

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs December 15, 2021 Partner Posts
With Ukrainian forces on high alert as Russia continues to amass troops on the border, Belfer Center experts outline America’s national security interests in the region and identify steps they believe Western forces should take to thwart Putin’s aims.
multimedia

PONARS Eurasia Fall Policy Conference 2021

PONARS Eurasia October 24, 2021 Partner Posts
Leading experts from around the world discuss US-Russia relations, security and geopolitics topics.
podcast

Revisiting the Russian Military

SRB Podcast September 12, 2021 Partner Posts
In this episode of the SRB podcast, Michael Kofman and Dmitry Gorenburg discuss recent developments in the Russian military.
article

Grand Illusions: The Impact of Misperceptions About Russia on U.S. Policy

Eugene Rumer and Richard Sokolsky July 08, 2021 Partner Posts
Getting Russia right—assessing its capabilities and intentions, the long-term drivers of its policy and threat perceptions, as well as its accomplishments—is essential because misreading them means wasted resources, distorted national priorities and increased risk of confrontation.
article

The Russian Military is Facing a Looming Demography Crisis

Ethan Woolley February 01, 2021 Partner Posts
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the newly formed Russian Federation’s demography essentially walked off a cliff.
multimedia

We Can Defense If We Want To

Foreign Policy Research Institute June 29, 2020 Partner Posts
In this episode of FPRI's Bear Market Brief, host and Eurasia expert Aaron Schwartzbaum speaks with Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA, on Russia's military.
article

A Farewell to the Open Skies Treaty, and an Era of Imaginative Thinking

Bonnie Jenkins June 16, 2020 Partner Posts
President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty (OST). The OST allows for members to conduct unarmed surveillance flights in each others’ air space. The treaty was designed to enhance mutual understanding, build confidence and promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities.
article

Build a Better Blob

Emma Ashford May 29, 2020 Recommended Reads
While some see the Blob as a bastion of foreign policy expertise, Ashford argues that portraying Washington's mainstream foreign policy community as "the only game in town" sets up a false choice between "hawkish liberal interventionism" and "Trumpian incompetence."
article

Ukraine, Not Russia, Will Sue for Peace as Pandemic Pressure Rises

Joseph Haberman May 14, 2020 Recommended Reads
With the prospect of a major economic crisis, Russia and Ukraine may face increasing pressure to lessen the burden to their economies and populations by seeking a peace settlement in Donbass. The pandemic could compel Ukraine to capitulate first.
multimedia

Video: Spheres of Influence Webinar

Center for the National Interest April 08, 2020 Partner Posts
When policymakers in the United States declared in the aftermath of the Cold War that the age of “spheres of influence” had ended, were they misdiagnosing the issue?
Refine & Filter

By Section

By Topic

By Country

By Regions

By Genre