CCW's Director of Research on Russia & Northern European Defence and Security, Dr Andrew Monaghan has compiled a selective reading list on Russia which is now available on the CCW website. A PDF version of the list can be downloaded here.
The list is necessarily selective and includes key texts, classic works, and work that illuminates all important historical background, rather than merely the most recently published work. It is a “live” document, and will be amended as appropriate.
There are currently large gaps in the literature, particularly in the study of the Russian armed forces and – even more so – the Russian security and intelligence services. Some older work has therefore been included that Dr Monaghan hopes will be useful for providing important background.
The reading list is intended to be as accessible as possible. All the works are in English. The articles are easily available to download for free (without subscription), and the books are in print and available to buy online, mostly at a decent price. While it is certainly worth consulting a number of other journals, including the Journal of Slavic Military Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, The Journal of Post-Soviet Affairs, access to these publications may require subscription. Readers are also encouraged to make use of the Russian military studies archive at the Defence Academy of the UK (http://barrington.cranfield.ac.uk/rmsa).
Finally, Dr Monaghan encourages readers to explore Russian sources that are often available in English. An essential text is the book Kolesnikov, A. et al (eds) First Person: an Astonishingly Frank Self Portrait by Russia’s President (Publicaffairs, 2000), a translation of a series of interviews with Putin published when he first came to power. The websites of the Presidential Administration (http://en.kremlin.ru/) and Foreign Ministry (http://www.mid.ru/en/main_en) have useful English language pages, and post speeches, strategies, doctrines, and concepts – often translated into English. It is worth regularly monitoring these sites. The Russia Studies series, edited by Dr. Andrew Monaghan and published by the NATO Defence College, provides English language reviews of Russian language texts, and is available for free download at: http://www.ndc.nato.int/research/research.php?icode=6
The English language pages of websites of various Russian think tanks and consultancies offer useful insight into the debates underway in Russia. These include Russia in Global Affairs (http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/), the Russian International Affairs Council (http://russiancouncil.ru/en/), the Valdai International Discussion Club (http://valdaiclub.com/), Minchenko Consulting (http://www.minchenko.ru/en/about/) and the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (http://cast.ru/eng/).
CCW hopes that you enjoy the works included on the reading list, now and over the course of the academic year as it is updated. Happy Reading!
