Russian Federation
Russia performs in the low range across all Global State of Democracy (GSoD) categories of democracy. It falls in the bottom 25 per cent of the world with regard to several factors of Representation, Rights, Rule of Law and Participation. In the last five years, it has experienced significant declines in seven factors of democratic performance, including Civil Liberties, Credible Elections, Political Equality and Civil Society. Russia is an upper middle income country, heavily dependent on hydrocarbon and mineral exports. In more than two decades under President Vladimir Putin, the country has deteriorated from a heavily flawed democracy to an authoritarian police state.
In 2014, Russia responded to the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity by launching a proxy war in the country’s east and illegally annexing the Crimean peninsula. In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Western nations responded with wide-ranging sanctions that have seriously damaged, but not crippled, the Russian economy, and the Russian state responded by cracking down on any and all independent civil society activity, antiwar protest, and remaining media freedom.
Russia is the largest country on earth by land area and a complex multi-confessional and multi-ethnic society, composing roughly four broad socioeconomic groups: Westernized and wealthy urban centers, mid-sized towns and cities dependent on state or major industrial employment, isolated and economically precarious villages, and “ethnic republics” that are a mix of the previous two groupings. In President Putin’s two decades in power, these “four Russias” were controlled through what the Kremlin euphemistically referred to as “managed democracy,” which in turn produced an increasingly personalized leadership system and the progressive depoliticization of various parts of Russian society. The persistence of the current political system lies in its ability to reward and discipline various parts of Russian society through the depoliticization of most spheres of life, the stoking of nationalist-conservative sentiment, the maintenance of an encompassing propaganda apparatus, and repressive and deadly violence. In recent years, the sticks of repression and more overt control and censorship of the media and internet become core tools of governance, culminating in the wide-ranging crackdown on even mild dissent and the suspicious death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prison camp in February 2024
While the GSoD Indices data show that Russia’s performance on gender equality has been static (at mid-range) for the past several decades, the increasing repression has likely impacted the state of equality. Despite equality guaranteed by law, studies indicate an increase in gender inequality in recent years due to lack of a clear state policy and propaganda that reinforces patriarchal attitudes, making women more vulnerable to violence, discrimination, and lack of political opportunities.
Russia’s political trajectory in the years to come will be determined by the fate of its war on Ukraine, as victory of some sort has become a question not of national, but of regime security.
Barring a clear end to the war, potential elite fractures and the slowly increasing cost of international sanctions may lead to a chaotic breakdown of the current government system. However, the closing-off of public information spaces makes ascertaining the course of public opinion nearly impossible . All feasible outcomes point towards significant declines across measures of democracy as the country continues to depart further from the rule of law in order to maintain its war effort.
Updated: May 2025
https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/
September 2025
Russian ministry blocks calls in popular messaging apps
The Russian communications agency Roscomnadzor began blocking all calls made on WhatsApp and Telegram, the country’s two most popular messaging apps, claiming both companies fail to comply with a law requiring that Russian users’ data be kept in the country. Simultaneously, the government has launched an ‘everything app’ modeled after China’s WeChat, Max, as a replacement. Max is not encrypted or anonymous, requires a Belarusian or Russian phone number, and collects extensive user data. Some security experts and ordinary Russians believe it is intended as a tool for mass surveillance. All phones sold in the country from 1 September must by law have the app installed. The block has triggered small protests around the country, media reports of which are unusual in wartime Russia. Both WhatsApp and Telegram are used by a large majority of Russians to manage their everyday affairs.
Russia withdraws from European convention on torture
President Vladimir Putin signed into law Russia’s withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 29 September. Russian officials said the move was a response to the Council of Europe’s ‘blocking’ Russian members from joining the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture. As a result, Russia will no longer permit international inspectors access to its detention centers, something that anti-torture activists say will lead to a degradation of prison conditions. Members of the Committee conducted thirty visits to Russian prisons and detention centers since Russia ratified the treaty in 1998, although as disclosure requires the approval of the host government, only four were publicly published.
Sources: European External Action Service, Meduza
August 2025
New law penalizes ‘extremist’ internet searches
A Russian law in effect from 1 September introduces penalties for deliberately searching the Internet for content the Russian government considers ‘extremist’ and for violating new rules on the usage of VPNs. The former offense is punishable with fines of up to RUB 5,000 (USD 60), and the latter with fines of RUB 80,000 to RUB 500,000 (USD 1,000 to USD 6,000) for individuals and businesses, respectively. Russia’s legal definition of extremist content is broad, and includes literature depicting same-sex relationships, social media activity by opposition political parties, content from independent media outlets and human rights groups, religious materials from Jehovah’s Witnesses, and more.
Sources: Meduza, Official Internet Portal for Legal Information
May 2025
‘Illegal’ migrant registry includes the names of one in nine migrants
A government-run registry of migrants deemed to be living illegally in Russia, launched in February, had grown to include at least 685,000 names by March, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation in May. This is equivalent to one in nine foreign citizens in the country. Both the size of the registry and reports from migrants and rights organizations indicate many individuals are included by mistake or without cause, and appeals are lengthy, costly, and uncertain to succeed. Those whose names appear in the register are barred from legally changing their residence, leaving the region in which they live, buying or owning property, opening a bank account, or withdrawing more than RUB 30,000 a month (USD 379).
Sources: British Broadcasting Corporation Russian, Kommersant, Meduza
Police raid publishing house over LGBTQIA+ literature
Moscow police arrested 10 and charged 3 employees of the Eksmo, the country’s largest publishing house, with violating anti-extremism laws as part of an investigation into publishing ‘LGBT propaganda’. The case marks a new and significantly broader interpretation of anti-extremism laws as including ‘using one’s official position.’ Prosecutors claim that by publishing books with LGBTQIA+ themes, Eksmo involved readers in the activities of what it calls ‘the International LGBT Social Movement’. Those charged face up to 12 years in prison. The basis for the charges is a list of books including LGBTQIA+ themes primarily published not by Eksmo, but by Popcorn Books, a publishing house which Eksmo acquired in 2023. Eksmo attempted unsuccessfully to avoid prosecution by instructing booksellers to destroy or return all copies of the books in question on 13 May.
Sources: Meduza, OVD Info, The Insider
March 2025
Explicit ethnic discrimination becomes increasingly visible
An examination of public and private tenders for services and contractors by the Sistema investigative journalism project found that conditions specifying the ethnicity of the contractor to be increasingly common. Entities including the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology, regional administrations, and private shopping centers across the country included specifications requiring all contractors to be of “Slavic appearance” or limiting employment only to “Slavic nationalities.” Contracts for security personnel in the private and public sector also included explicit instructions to more closely inspect individuals who appeared to be of “Caucasian or Asian nationality.” Russian rights expert Stefania Kulaeva agreed that despite being contrary to Russian discrimination legislation, such provisions are increasingly the norm in Russia.
Sources: Current Time, Kommersant
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Global ranking per category of democratic performance in 2024
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Global State of Democracy Indices
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Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time
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