Unlike in the USSR, which massively infringed on citizens’ private space, today’s Russians enjoy virtually unlimited individual freedoms. But, for those Russians with competitive skills and thus options – and for the many more without much hope for the future – the torch of political opposition is best carried by someone else.
MOSCOW – The Russian government, with its solid hold on power, has invariably gotten away with poor performance, inefficiency, corruption, and widespread violation of political rights and civil liberties. Polls consistently demonstrate that the Russian people are not deluded: they routinely respond in surveys that government officials are corrupt and self-serving. More than 80% of Russians, according to a poll conducted last summer, believe that “many civil servants practically defy the law.”
MOSCOW – The Russian government, with its solid hold on power, has invariably gotten away with poor performance, inefficiency, corruption, and widespread violation of political rights and civil liberties. Polls consistently demonstrate that the Russian people are not deluded: they routinely respond in surveys that government officials are corrupt and self-serving. More than 80% of Russians, according to a poll conducted last summer, believe that “many civil servants practically defy the law.”