> Russia is also a European democracy. Surprise
Nasty surprises seem to happen to people who credibly oppose Putin. Without free press and free speech, elections don't mean much.
Nasty surprises seem to happen to people who credibly oppose Putin. Without free press and free speech, elections don't mean much.
I believe, they just don't have/don't want to spend money on showing a real election circus, like in US. Russia is a poor country and making people believe that a cross in a white form means something if you are not a billionaire and can't get billionaires to support you with money, costs a lot.
You have "free press" and "free speech" in the internet, doesn't seem to help much, does it?
And the argument "we're too poor to be a democracy" is bullshit. The real issue is that the country is too corrupt to be a democracy. (The US also has this problem, but to a much lesser extent. Well, somewhat lesser, at least. Trump has certainly has certainly tried to follow Putin there.)
And of course the country is too oppressed to be a democracy. You can't have meaningful elections if you don't have free speech and free press.