Richard Sakwa (born 1953) is a British political scientist and a former professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, 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. [1] He has written books about Russian, Central and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.
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. [2] [3]
Sakwa was a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, [4] 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. [2] He is a commentator for RT and has spoken at Stop The War Coalition events. [5] [6]
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. [7]
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. [8]
Sakwa's 2015 book Frontline Ukraine was well-received by University of Ottawa historian Paul Robinson in E-International Relations [9] and political scientist Serhiy Kudelia in openDemocracy. [10] Taras Kuzio criticised Sakwa for what he saw as pro-Russian bias and lack of expertise on Ukraine, [11] and has described him as a "pro-Putin scholar". [12] Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute describes Sakwa as essentially providing the Russian perspective on the Russo-Ukrainian war. [13]
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". [7] Paul D'Anieri describes it as "a polemical attack on Western policy... and a defense of Russia... Sakwa clearly sympathizes with Russia's position." [14]
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". [15]
Maria Lipman, a Russian journalist, political scientist and Russia expert, 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". [8] In a 2023 study Oliver Boyd-Barrett said that he considered Deception "at the time of writing, to be the soundest, most empirical, and comprehensive analysis" of Russiagate. [16]
Fifth Edition (2021).
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Some may find Sakwa's analysis one-sided. Russia's mistakes and misbehaviours are explained, while those of the West and Ukraine are condemned. Nevertheless, Sakwa supports his thesis with considerable evidence and lays out a powerful case... Frontline Ukraine brings much needed balance to a subject which badly needs it
Media related to Richard Sakwa at Wikimedia Commons
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