Is Russia a Democracy?

There's no great yearning in Russia for democracy. Putin creates his own political party and he creates an opposition. Belarus had a free election allegedly that was completely rigged two years ago. So what we're talking about is a profoundly different culture, but until less there is some sort of democratic accountability. There's always going to be this opacity and or a pakeness in our perceptions of Russia. But as long as we give it that type of respect, that it is some muscular, vibrant, dynamic, dangerous power, we will always give it more relevance than it should have.