Russia Studies Program
CNA's Russia Studies Program provides critical analyses to U.S. leaders on Russian military capabilities and the Russian way of war. Program staff include analysts with native fluency in Russian and deep knowledge of operational and strategic issues. CNA’s experience in Russian-language analyses goes all the way back to studies on Soviet naval doctrine in the 1960s. The Russia Studies Program supports U.S leaders with classified and unclassified studies, workshops, conferences and wargames.
In The News
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Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast [Sep 25, 23] Sam Bendett on Russia-Ukraine & Byron Callan’s Week AheadDefense & Aerospace Report | 25 Sep 2023
Samuel Bendett says, “Ukrainians have reached some of those fortifications and continue their slow advance through them. Of course this leads to the question as to whether or not this is the breakthrough that everyone was waiting for. Everybody is exercising caution and trying to analyze this simply because Russian defenses in the south are so prevalent and well-organized.”
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A video appearing to show a Russian Lancet drone striking a Ukrainian MiG29 fighter at its base suggests the small drones can now hit targets much farther awayBusiness Insider | 24 Sep 2023
Samuel Bendett says, "If this strike happened as it did, it probably confirms that this particular drone may have been operated by Russia's Special Forces, who are Lancet's regular users."
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Ukraine Targets Crimea for Second Day in a Row, Russia SaysThe New York Times | 23 Sep 2023
Samuel Bendett says, “Controlling Crimea is essential if Russia wants to maintain its war effort and to keep Ukraine off balance and to maintain its positions in the territories it already captured.”
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Russian Navy Is Bailing on Sevastopol, the ‘Permanent’ Home Base of the Black Sea FleetKyiv Post | 23 Sep 2023
Dmitry Gorenburg says “While they can definitely hit targets from Novorossiysk, it’s farther away, so the more distant targets are out of reach. Plus, the number of missile carriers has been reduced somewhat with the elimination of the Kilo sub. So not a game-changer in terms of capability, but definitely a reduction.”
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Ukraine’s forces say NATO trained them for wrong fightPolitico | 22 Sep 2023
Michael Kofman says there’s “a realistic possibility of Ukrainian forces breaking through Russian lines,” as “the momentum has picked up and the dynamic has somewhat changed in the last couple of weeks.” But even he cautions that war “isn’t a parlor game where one can gamble and easily predict outcomes.”
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Russia’s Low-Cost Explosive Drones: Lancet, Shahed and More ExplainedThe Wall Street Journal | 20 Sep 2023
Samuel Bendett says that he believes Russian forces had a limited number of these UAVs, with plans to significantly ramp up production in 2023.
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Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast [Sep 18, 23] Sam Bendett on Russia-Ukraine & Byron Callan’s Week AheadDefense & Aerospace Report | 18 Sep 2023
Samuel Bendett says, “Ultimately the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un served to reinforce Russia’s alliances. Russia is taking significant measures to demonstrate to its allies around the world like Iran and China and North Korea that it is still a viable partner, and this meeting resulted in a potential transfer of a larger number of key artillery shells and munitions to the Russian military.”
- Drones Over Ukraine
- To Robot or Not to Robot? Past Analysis of Russian Military Robotics and Today's War in Ukraine
- Start with the Political: Explaining Russia's Bungled Invasion of Ukraine
- Russia’s Artificial Intelligence Boom May Not Survive the War
- Russia’s Shock and Awe
- Russian Thinking on the Role of AI in Future Warfare
- Challenges to Broadening the of U.S.-Russian Arms Control
- Russian Military Strategy: Core Tenets and Operational Concepts
- Russian Combat Aviation: Procurement, Modernization, and Future Outlook
- Russian Military Expenditure in Comparative Perspective: A Purchasing Power Parity Estimate
- How Moscow Understands War and Military Strategy
- Russian Approaches to Competition
- The Role of Russia's Military in Information Confrontation
- Russian Forces in the Western Military District