Russia in the Democracy Index, compiled by the analytical division of the British magazine The Economist (EIU), has fallen over the past year from 124th to 146th place. There are 167 positions in total.
“After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s indicators recorded the largest decline of any country in the world,” the analysis group said. Experts whose findings have drawn attention Russian service “BBC” note that Russia “has long been on the path away from democracy and is now acquiring many of the characteristics of a dictatorship.”
The Economist analyst group also points out that Russian authorities have carried out an unprecedented crackdown on the media and the opposition since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine a year ago.
The average score for the global index in 2022 remained about the same, according to on the group’s website . As the report shows, if you don’t take, for example, Russia, the situation of democracy in the world has improved slightly after the removal of covid restrictions. Among the positive trends is the movement of Chile, France and Spain from the category of “imperfect democracy” to the category of “full democracy”. This was mainly due to the lifting of strict coronavirus measures.
According to the EIU, less than half of the world’s population (45.3%) lives in a democracy, more than a third (36.9%) – under an authoritarian regime, mainly in Russia and China. Just under 8% of the population live in a “full democracy” – this group includes more than 20 countries, including Canada, Sweden and Uruguay.
Ukraine is in 87th place in the ranking, note “Meduza” .
Due to the introduction of an article on counterfeits in Russian legislation after the start of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine , most independent media were forced to suspend their work or refuse to cover the war. Media workers have left en masse for other countries to continue their work and avoid criminal charges. False Russian authorities call any information about the war in Ukraine different from the version of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Under the penal article on the propagation of counterfeits, he threatens up to 15 years in prison. According to human rights activists, this article actually introduced military censorship to the country. On December 9 last year, the Meshchansky court in Moscow convicted opposition politician Ilya Yashin of spreading false information about the Russian military in connection with his feed about the massacres of residents of the Ukrainian city. from Bucha. Yashin, one of the associates of politician Boris Nemtsov, who was killed in Moscow in 2015, was sentenced to 8.5 years in a penal colony. Another opposition politician, Alexei Navalny, founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, was transferred from a general to a strict-regime settlement in the Vladimir region in June last year. Associates of the opponent, still at large and now living abroad, have launched the international campaign #FreeNavalny. They demand “the release of all political prisoners, including Navalny”, as well as an end to the war in Ukraine. Since August last year, Navalny has been sent to ShIZO 11 times. Last month, the Moscow City Court decided to liquidate the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia’s oldest human rights organization. In December 2021, the Moscow City Court liquidated another oldest human rights group in Russia – the Memorial Society and its Human Rights Center.
