Russia Is Not a Democracy: From the Shelling of Parliament to 'Resetting' Term Limits

Russia in international rankings

Ranking	Russia	Ukraine
Freedom House (2024)	16/100 “Not Free”	50/100 “Partly Free”
Economist Democracy Index (2023)	2.22 — authoritarian regime (144th place)	5.42 — hybrid regime (87th)
Press Freedom Index (2024)	162nd out of 180	61st
Corruption Perceptions (2023)	141st out of 180	104th

Russia is one of the least free countries in the world — ranked alongside Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. And this is the country trying to lecture Ukraine about “democracy”?

A chronology of democracy’s destruction

1993: shelling of parliament

October 3–4, 1993 — Yeltsin ordered tanks to shell the Russian parliament building (the White House) in Moscow. Between 150 and 2,000 people were killed (the exact number is unknown). Yeltsin then pushed through a new Constitution granting super-presidential powers.

This set a precedent: in Russia, the president stands above the law and may shoot at institutions.

The 2000s: “managed democracy”

Putin systematically destroyed all independent institutions:

Media:

• 2000 — destruction of NTV channel (Gusinsky arrested, channel transferred to Gazprom)
• 2001 — closure of TV-6 (Berezovsky)
• 2003 — closure of TVS (last independent channel)
• By 2010, all federal TV channels were controlled by the Kremlin

Business:

• 2003 — arrest of Khodorkovsky (YUKOS) — 10 years in prison for “tax evasion” (in reality, for funding the opposition and harboring political ambitions)
• A signal to all business: stay out of politics

Regions:

• 2004 — abolition of direct elections for regional governors (after the Beslan tragedy — which had no connection whatsoever to gubernatorial elections)
• Governors are now appointed by the Kremlin

The 2010s: crushing protest

2011–2012: Bolotnaya Square

After falsified parliamentary elections (December 2011), more than 100,000 people took to the streets of Moscow. The largest protests since 1993.

Putin’s response:

• Mass arrests — the “Bolotnaya case”, dozens sentenced to real prison terms
• “Foreign agents” law — NGOs receiving foreign funding must be labeled
• “Undesirable organizations” law — ban on foreign NGOs
• Protest law — sharp increase in fines

The 2020s: totalitarianism

2020: “resetting” term limits

Under the Constitution, Putin was required to leave in 2024 (two consecutive terms). Instead:

• Constitutional amendments were adopted, “resetting” his previous terms to zero
• Putin may rule until 2036 (36 years in power!)
• “Voting” lasted one week (during the pandemic), without genuine oversight
• Result: 77.92% “in favor”

Navalny:

• August 2020 — poisoned with Novichok (a military nerve agent developed in GRU laboratories)
• Survived thanks to emergency evacuation to Berlin
• January 2021 — voluntarily returned to Russia and was arrested at the airport
• Sentenced to 19 years in prison on a series of fabricated charges
• February 16, 2024 — died in prison (one month before the “elections”). Circumstances of death classified

The 2024 “elections”

Presidential “elections” (March 15–17, 2024):

Who was not allowed to run:

• Navalny — dead
• Boris Nadezhdin — gathered 200,000+ signatures (the only anti-war candidate). The Central Electoral Commission refused registration, finding “violations” in the signature sheets
• Any candidate who spoke out against the war

Who was allowed to run:

• Putin — the only real candidate
• Davankov (New People) — systemic opposition, does not criticize Putin
• Slutsky (LDPR) — clownish “opposition” that votes for everything the Kremlin wants
• Kharitonov (CPRF) — nominal communist, loyal to Putin

Observation:

• OSCE/ODIHR did not send a full observation mission, only an “assessment” team
• The independent Golos movement recorded mass violations: ballot stuffing, carousel voting, pressure on voters
• Voting lasted 3 days — making effective observation impossible
• “Electronic voting” — with no possibility of independent verification

Result: Putin — 87.28%. Even for Russia, this is a record figure — higher than previous “victories.” This indicates not support, but the complete elimination of even the appearance of competition.

Comparison with Ukraine

Criterion	Ukraine	Russia
Presidential changes	6 times since 1991	Effectively 0 (Putin in power since 2000)
President lost election	Yes (Kuchma→Yushchenko, Poroshenko→Zelensky)	Never
Opposition arrests	Rare, scandalous	Systematic (Navalny, Kara-Murza, thousands)
Independent media	Exist	Destroyed
Peaceful protests	Permitted (Maidan 2004, 2013)	Dispersed
Internet freedom	Relative	Blocking, censorship

Why this matters for understanding the war

Putin attacked Ukraine not because Ukraine “threatened” Russia. He attacked because:

1. A democratic Ukraine is a threat to Putin’s regime: if a Slavic, Orthodox country can be democratic — the problem is not “mentality” but Putin himself
2. A successful Ukraine in the EU would show Russians that there is an alternative to Putin’s dictatorship
3. Putin needs external enemies to justify domestic repression

As Timothy Snyder said: “Russia is not fighting NATO or ‘Nazism.’ Russia is fighting the idea that Ukrainians can live better than Russians — because that calls the entire Putin regime into question.”