Russia, Russian Foreign Policy, Former USSR, USA-Russia Relationship, Political Development in Russia, International Politics and the Second Cold War, Nature of postcommunist political order and prospects for socialism, Global challenges facing the former communist countries, Problems of European and global order
Richard Sakwa is Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent at Canterbury, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow and an Honorary Professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University. After graduating in History from the London School of Economics, he took a PhD from the Centre for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham. He held lectureships at the Universities of Essex and California, Santa Cruz, before joining the University of Kent in 1987. He has published widely on Soviet, Russian, post-communist and international affairs. Recent books include Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia (London and New York, Routledge, 2014), Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands (London, I. B. Tauris, 2016), Russia against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order (Cambridge University Press, 2017) and Russia’s Futures (Cambridge, Polity, 2019). His book The Putin Paradox, was published by I. B. Tauris (Bloomsbury) in 2020 and his Deception: Russiagate and the New Cold War came out with Lexington Books in late 2021. He is currently working on The Lost Peace: How We Failed to Prevent a New Cold War for Yale University Press.
Professor Richard Sakwa joined the School of Politics and International Relations of the University of Kent in 1987, was promoted to a professorship in 1996 and was Head of School between 2001 and 2007, and in 2010 he once again took over as Head of School until 2014. While completing his doctorate on Moscow politics during the Civil War (1918-21) he spent a year on a British Council scholarship at Moscow State University (1979-80), and then worked for two years in Moscow in the ‘Mir’ Science and Technology Publishing House. Before moving to Kent he lectured at the University of Essex and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Prof. Sakwa is an Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Honorary Professor, Faculty of Political Science, Moscow State University, and since September 2002 a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences.
Sakwa is Emeritus Professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent. From 2001 to 2007 he was also the head of the University’s Politics and International Relations department. He has published on Soviet, Russian and post-communist affairs, and has written and edited several books and articles on the subject. Sakwa was a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a member of the advisory boards of the Institute of Law and Public Policy in Moscow and a member of Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences. He is a commentator for RT and has spoken at Stop The War Coalition events. His book Frontline Ukraine is about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It argues that the conflicts in the post-Soviet space are caused by the expansionism of western/Atlanticist “Wider Europe” and the revanchist aggression of Eastern European states, with the USA and NATO sparking a new Cold War. The book cautions against European security becoming “hostage to a faraway country”, Ukraine. Sakwa argues that it is “wrong-headed in conceptualization and dangerous in its consequences” to describe Russia as expansionist: “Russia under Putin is not a land-grabbing state, it is a profoundly conservative power and its actions are designed to maintain the status quo… [Russia] makes no claim to revise the existing international order, but to make it more inclusive and universal.” Sakwa argues that Russia’s wars with Georgia are defensive wars against NATO expansionism. His 2021 book Deception argues that investigations into Russiagate – allegations that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 U.S. presidential election – were politically biased and based on unverified documents. He said the investigations polarised the U.S. and politicised the intelligence community, which greatly damaged the country and soured U.S.–Russia relations.
Sakwa’s 2015 book Frontline Ukraine has provoked much debate among scholars and popular commentators, praised by some while criticised by others for apparent leniency towards Russia. The book was well-received by philosopher/linguist Noam Chomsky, historian Paul Robinson and political scientist Serhiy Kudelia. Taras Kuzio criticised Sakwa for what he saw as pro-Russian bias and lack of expertise on Ukraine, and has described him as a “pro-Putin scholar”. Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute describes Sakwa has essentially providing the Russian perspective on the Ukraine conflict. A review in the Journal of Ukrainian Studies describes Frontline Ukraine as “openly polemical” and a “one-sided treatment of contemporary Russian politics and of Putin’s regime”. Paul D’Anieri describes it as “a polemical attack on Western policy… and a defense of Russia… Sakwa clearly sympathizes with Russia’s position.” Michael Rochlitz, an associate fellow at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, described Sakwa’s 2020 book Putin Redux, which is about Vladimir Putin, as “detailed, balanced and sober”. Maria Lipman, a Russian journalist, wrote in Foreign Affairs that Sakwa’s 2021 book Deception “is an exceptionally detailed and well-documented account of all the major episodes covered by the Trump-Russia probes”.
