Did Putin win in Syria? Or is he cutting his losses? (Sergey Aleksashenko, Pavel K. Baev, Brookings)

Pavel and I agree that while the withdrawal of Russian military power from Syria came as a surprise in the immediate sense, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to pull out was logical given the circumstances he faced in Syria. Where we differ is in our assessment of whether Putin essentially won at his own game in Syria. I argue that he did, and that the West misunderstands that—which will make it harder for the West to predict his next moves.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/order-from-chaos/posts/2016/03/21-putin-russia-intervention-syria-aleksashenko-baev

Should Vladimir Putin be concerned about the Russian economy? (Sergey Aleksashenko, Brookings)

In March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely be running in the country’s next presidential election. Putin has been in power for 16 years, and by March of 2018, he will have become the second-longest serving head of state in post-imperial Russian history, after Joseph Stalin and ahead of Leonid Brezhnev. Although the 2018 elections will certainly not be entirely free or fair, for Putin, they will be of great importance as a national referendum on the popularity of his policies.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2016/02/09-vladimir-putin-russian-economy-aleksashenko