Dr Anna Matveeva

Dr Matveeva joined the Russia Institute as a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in 2022. She works as an academic and a practitioner, specialising in conflict and peace studies, peacebuilding and involvement of the post-Soviet citizens in violent extremism at home and abroad, having published extensively on these themes. The geographical remit of her interests covers conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, the Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as Russian policy towards them, while her initial research background is in Afghanistan. Dr Matveeva has worked for the United Nations and lived in Central Asia in her capacity as the UNDP Regional Adviser on Peace and Development. In 2010, Dr Matveeva headed the Research Secretariat of the international Kyrgyzstan Inquiry Commission. She presently acts as a consultant to international organisations, such as the UN, the EU and bilateral donors, and for international non-governmental organisations. Previously she was a Research Fellow at Chatham House, worked at the London School of Economics and headed programmes at International Alert and Saferworld. She is also a board member of Nonviolent Peaceforce, an international NGO headquartered in Geneva.

Research areas

• Russian policies towards conflict-affected states
• Conflicts in Ukraine, Central Asia and the Caucasus
• Russian politics and security
• Violent extremism and terrorism in post-Soviet states
• International peacebuilding, non-violent approaches to security

Dr Matveeva is currently working on two research themes. The first focuses on implications of the war in Ukraine on Russia’s political and social evolution, and how the ongoing war changes the Russian society. The second theme centres on the delayed effects and geopolitical consequences of the USSR dissolution that affect conflicts between and within post-Soviet states, with a broader outlook for regional stability.

Recent publications

2023

• Nagorno-Karabakh: Crisis in the Caucasus could destabilise the whole of Eurasia’, The Conversation, 26 September 2023, https://theconversation.com/nagorno-karabakh-crisis-in-the-caucasus-could-destabilise-the-whole-of-eurasia-214400
• Ukraine war: how Russians are rallying on the home front to support ‘their boys’, The Conversation, 25 July 2023, https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-how-russians-are-rallying-on-the-home-front-to-support-their-boys-207696
• ‘Despite the war, Russia is still part of Europe – for a lasting peace both sides need to remember that,’ The Conversation, 25 May 2023, https://theconversation.com/despite-the-war-russia-is-still-part-of-europe-for-a-lasting-peace-both-sides-need-to-remember-that-206414
• ‘Ukraine war: Yevgeny Prigozhin and the 'warrior constituency' that could threaten Putin from the right,’ The Conversation, 2 June 2023, https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-yevgeny-prigozhin-and-the-warrior-constituency-that-could-threaten-putin-from-the-right-206875
• ‘A New Opening for EU–Central Asia Relations?’ Carnegie Europe, 13 April 2023, https://carnegieeurope.eu/2023/04/13/new-opening-for-eu-central-asia-relations-pub-89454
• ‘The war is a plot’ - Conspiracies, detachment and confusion in Russia, OpenDemocracy, 13 February 2023, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russians-respond-to-war-putin-distance-themselves-from-the-state/
• From London to Moscow: a journey through times, Culturico, 18 January 2023, https://culturico.com/2023/01/18/from-london-to-moscow-a-journey-through-times/
• Ukraine war: Russia only hurts itself by its inflammatory discourse on Kazakhstan, The Conversation, 19 December 2022, https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-russia-only-hurts-itself-with-its-inflammatory-discourse-on-kazakhstan-196670
• Why betting on Putin’s departure is a losing game, OpenDemocracy, 13 December 2022, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-after-putin-war-ukraine-syria-successor/
• Russia's War has exposed Limits of Liberal Peace, OpenDemocracy, 24 November 2022, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/eurasia-russia-ukraine-conflicts-borders-balkans-turbulent-liberal-peace/

2022

• ‘Donbas: the post-Soviet conflict that changed Europe,’ European Politics and Society 23:3, pp.410–41, DOI: 10.1080/23745118.2022.2074398 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23745118.2022.2074398
• ‘Donbas at limbo: self-proclaimed republics in the inter-war period (2014–2021)’ Pathways to Peace and Security 62:1, pp.92-106. Special Issue: Peace Processes, Violence, and De Facto States. DOI: 10.20542/2307-1494-2022-1-92-10 https://www.imemo.ru/en/publications/periodical/pmb/archive/2022/1-62/peace-process-and-violence-the-case-of-donbass/donbass-at-limbo-self-proclaimed-republics-in-the-inter-war-period-20142021
• ‘Russian policy in Myanmar and Southeast Asia,’ Research Paper, PeaceNexus Foundation, https://peacenexus.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/V2-Report-Russian-Policy-in-Myanmar-and-SouthEast-Asia-1.pdf
• ‘Peace Is an Unpopular Word, But It Must Be on the Agenda,’ RUSI Commentary, 28 March, https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/peace-unpopular-word-it-must-be-agenda
• ‘Donbas: Seven Years On, Peace No More in Sight,’ IFS Insight, 22:2, FHS https://hdl.handle.net/11250/2977071 https://fhs.brage.unit.no/fhs-xmlui/handle/11250/2977071

2021

• ‘Syria’s uneasy peace: where does it come from?’ Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 39:2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/crq.21327

2020

• 'Tajikistan’, in: Bob de Graaff ed., Intelligence Communities & Cultures in Asia and the Middle East: a Comprehensive Reference, (Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder/ London), 401 – 418.

2018

• Through Times of Trouble: Conflict in Southeastern Ukraine Explained from Within, Lanham: Lexington Books, 2018 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498543255/Through-Times-of-Trouble-Conflict-in-Southeastern-Ukraine-Explained-from-Within
• ‘Russia’s Power projection after the Ukraine Crisis’, Europe-Asia Studies 70:5, pp.711-737, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09668136.2018.1479735.
• ‘Radicalisation and Violent Extremism in Kyrgyzstan: On the Way to Caliphate?’ RUSI Journal 163:1, pp.30-46, https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2018.1453013 
• (with Antonio Giustozzi) ‘The Central Asian militants: cannon fodder of global jihadism or revolutionary vanguard?’, Small Wars and Insurgencies 29:2, pp.189-206, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09592318.2018.1433472?journalCode=fswi20 

2017

• ‘Divided we fall…or rise? Kyrgyzstan – Tajikistan border dilemma,’ Cambridge Journal of Eurasian Studies 1:1, https://doi.org/10.22261/94D4RC

2016

• ‘No Moscow Stooges: Identity polarisation and guerrilla movements in Donbass,’ Journal of Black Sea and South European Studies 16:1, pp.25-50, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2016.1148415.

You can find a full list of Dr Matveeva's publications here.

Public engagement

Dr Matveeva provides regular commentary to printed and broadcast media on Russian and Eurasian affairs, including Channel 4, al Jazeera, GB News, TRT World, WION TV, among others.

• Ukraine war: Russia only hurts itself by its inflammatory discourse on Kazakhstan, The Conversation, 19 December 2022, https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-russia-only-hurts-itself-with-its-inflammatory-discourse-on-kazakhstan-196670
• Why betting on Putin’s departure is a losing game, OpenDemocracy, 13 December 2022, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-after-putin-war-ukraine-syria-successor/
• Russia's War has exposed Limits of Liberal Peace, OpenDemocracy, 24 November 2022, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/eurasia-russia-ukraine-conflicts-borders-balkans-turbulent-liberal-peace/
• ‘Peace Is an Unpopular Word, But It Must Be on the Agenda,’ RUSI Commentary, 28 March 2022, https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/peace-unpopular-word-it-must-be-agenda