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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How Dangerous Is Russia?

Nikolas K. Gvosdev July 30, 2016 Recommended Reads
Russia’s military may have only a fraction of the U.S. military's capabilities and equipment, but that is still far more than any other post-Soviet state. It is even enough to pose a challenge to European militaries.
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Just How Dangerous Is Russia's Military?

Nikolas K. Gvosdev July 15, 2016 Recommended Reads
The Kremlin's lack of transparency leaves many wondering if Russia will continue down a path of military modernization in light of decreasing energy prices and the uncertainty of Western sanctions.
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The Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model

Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews July 11, 2016 Partner Posts
The contemporary Russian propaganda model is high-volume, multichannel, rapid, continuous and repetitive. The very factors that make this model successful also make it difficult to counter. While traditional counterpropaganda approaches are likely to be inadequate, more effective solutions can be found in the same psychology literature that explains the surprising success of this phenomenon.
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False Alert: Is Russia Beefing Up Forces on NATO’s Border?

Ulrich Kühn July 08, 2016 Recommended Reads
While Russia has done an about-face on military reforms meant to switch from large divisions to smaller, more mobile brigades, Moscow is not (yet) creating additional armed forces.
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The Russian Military: A Force in Transition

Michael Kofman June 24, 2016 Recommended Reads
While the most recent Russian military reforms produced impressive results, they remain incomplete, resulting in a permanent change for the Russian military without an easily discernible destination.
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Russia's Military: Assessment, Strategy and Threat

Alexander Golts and Michael Kofman June 24, 2016 Partner Posts
A report providing a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the Russian armed forces in the context of Russia’s reemergence on the geopolitical stage.
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Why Putin Tolerates Corruption

Ivan Krastev May 15, 2016 Recommended Reads
Unlike for Xi Jinping, there is little incentive for Putin to begin an effective anti-corruption campaign, and compelling reasons not to.
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How Western aid enables graft addiction in Ukraine

M. Steven Fish and Neil A. Abrams May 05, 2016 Recommended Reads
Can Western aid actually support the cause of reform in Ukraine? Or is Western assistance enabling an entrenched elite to continue stealing and avoid building a functioning state?
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Unpacking Russia's New National Security Strategy

Olga Oliker January 07, 2016 Partner Posts
Russia's new national security strategy is the document of an ambitious Russia that sees constraints on its ambitions as threats to be overcome, whether they come from within or without.
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Russia and the Menace of Unreality

Peter Pomerantsev September 09, 2014 Recommended Reads
Russian state information apparatuses achieve their goals not by constructing a widely accepted version of the "truth", but instead by disrupting Western narratives at home and abroad.
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The U.S.-Russia Joint Threat Assessment of Nuclear Terrorism

Matthew Bunn, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Simon Saradzhyan, William H. Tobey, Yuri Morozov, Viktor I. Yesin, Pavel S. Zolotarev June 06, 2011 Recommended Reads
As it is entirely feasible for terror groups to produce a weapon of mass destruction given enough nuclear material, countries must take stronger steps towards prevention and security.
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Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia

Yegor Gaidar November 02, 2007 Recommended Reads
Soviet nostalgia is misplaced, and could lead Russian authorities down a path of economic disaster if current policy does not change.
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