Richard Sakwa (born 22 August 1953, Norwich) [1] is a British political scientist and a former professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent and an honorary professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University. [2] He has written books about Russian, Central and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.
Richard Sakwa is of Polish British descent. [3] He is the son of Zenon and Andree (Dumar) Sakwa. [1] Sakwa's father Zenon was an agronomist who later joined the Polish Army during the German and Soviet invasion of Poland. Zenon later escaped to Hungary and joined the Polish Second Corps under Lieutenant general Władysław Anders. Following the end of World War Two, Zenon and his family were granted refuge in the United Kingdom and settled down. [3] Sakwa married Roza T. in November 1981 and the couple have two sons. [1]
Sakwa completed a Bachelor of Arts at the London School of Economics in 1975 and his PhD at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of R. W. Davies in 1984. [1] [4] Sakwa's PhD looked at Moscow politics during the Russian Civil War. He also spent a year on a British Council scholarship at Moscow State University between 1979 and 1980. Sakwa also worked at Mir Publishers and taught at the University of Essex and the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1987, Sakwa joined the University of Kent, and was promoted to Professor in 1996. [5]
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. [6] [7]
Sakwa was a participant of Valdai Discussion Club, [8] 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. [6] He was invited to share his views on current political issues on RT, CGTN and has written in The Guardian, Open. Sakwa has also spoken at Stop The War Coalition events. [9] [10] He has also given written interviews in The Slovak Spectator and the Finnish Rauhan Puolustajat.
His book Frontline Ukraine is about the origins of the Russo-Ukrainian War. It argues that the Ukrainian conflict was the result of internal Ukrainian issues (Ukrainian Crisis) becoming hostage to a new Cold War with Ukraine at its focal point (Ukraine Crisis). According to him, the new Cold War was the result of a profound misunderstanding between the West and Russia, with the latter being treated as a defeated power following the collapse of the USSR. 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 war with Georgia was a breaking point in Russia-US relations, with Russia becoming more insistent on its security concerns, and a response to the shelling of Russian peacekeepers, a point confirmed by the ICRC. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
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. [16]
Sakwa's 2015 book Frontline Ukraine was well-received by political scientist Serhiy Kudelia in openDemocracy. [17]
According to Paul Robinson, Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, "Sakwa supports his thesis with considerable evidence and lays out a powerful case. He is entirely right to point out that the war in Donbas is as much a product of the actions of those who protested on Maidan and subsequently took power in Kiev, as of Russia." [18]
Taras Kuzio, ex-director of the NATO Information and Documentation Center in Kyiv, criticised Sakwa for what he saw as "pro-Russian bias and lack of expertise on Ukraine", [19] and has described him as a "pro-Putin scholar". [20]
Geoffrey Roberts, professor of history at University College Cork, notes: "Sakwa offers a strong interpretation, critical of ethnic nationalism and tending to favour the Russian and “blue” point of view. But he treats differing perspectives fairly and is meticulous in his reconstruction of events, whether it is the violent escalation of the Maidan protests, the secession of Crimea, the revolt in eastern Ukraine or Russia’s role in the crisis." [15]
Sarah Lain, member of the Royal United Services Institute and Research Advisor in Kyiv, describes Sakwa as essentially providing the Russian perspective on the Russo-Ukrainian war. [21]
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". [22]
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". [11]
Paul Wingrove, former Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Greenwich, "advises that readers exercise caution and their own judgment when navigating texts on this highly debated political terrain" but simultaneously "praises Sakwa’s masterful account as a fine-grained, well-sourced analysis". [14]
Paul D'Anieri describes it as "a polemical attack on Western policy... and a defense of Russia... Sakwa clearly sympathizes with Russia's position.". Nevertheless he references Sakwa's arguments in Ukraine and Russia - From Civilised Divorce To Uncivil War. [23] [24]
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." [16] 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." [25]
Nick Hordern, former diplomat and journalist, notes that "Sakwa's book is a salutary challenge to the very basis of Australian foreign policy: the principle that Washington is always right." [13]
Fifth Edition (2021).
Media related to Richard Sakwa at Wikimedia Commons
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