Russia

143 million people
10,730 USD GNI (PPP)
Internet:
Not Free
Press:
Not Free
Not Free

Population and GNI data source

News & Updates

Press Releases

Russia: Court Bans Secure Messaging App ‘Telegram’

April 13, 2018

Freedom House issued the following statement in response to today’s decision of the Tagansky District Court in Moscow to block the popular instant messaging app Telegram. 
FREEDOM AT ISSUE BLOG

Democracy in the Crosshairs

Arch Puddington
Distinguished Fellow for Democracy Studies
April 5, 2018

Authoritarian powers that are fundamentally hostile to democracy cannot be ignored or appeased.
Press Releases
Putin and Trump at the G20 Hamburg Summit

United States: Condemnation, not Congratulations for Putin

March 20, 2018

In response to President Trump congratulating Vladimir Putin for his re-election as Russian president, in a vote whose outcome was determined before ballots were cast, Freedom House issued a statement.
Press Releases

Russia: Sham Elections for a Dictator

March 16, 2018

Russia’s fake elections are now a model for autocrats in other countries, from Egypt to Venezuela—authoritarians who mimic Putin in deploying new strategies of repression.

Pages

Experts

Marc Behrendt

Director, Europe and Eurasia programs

Marc Behrendt is the Director for Europe and Eurasia programs at Freedom House, with over 20 years of experience working in the Eurasia region in peacebuilding, governance and human rights.

Issues: 
Civil Society, Freedom of Expression, Human Rights
Regions: 
Eurasia, Europe

Signature Reports

Freedom in the World

Freedom on the Net

Freedom of the Press

Nations in Transit

Countries at the Crossroads

Special Reports

Contending with Putin's Russia

As President Barack Obama enters his second term, relations with Russia present him with a set of thorny problems. This package of materials includes policy proposals, a summary of Russian legal restrictions on NGOs, a chronology of repressive actions under Vladimir Putin since 2000, and graphs illustrating Russia's score declines in Freedom House's annual reports.


 

Promise and Reversal: The Post-Soviet Landscape Twenty Years On

“Promise and Reversal: The Post-Soviet Landscape Twenty Years On,” marks the 20th anniversary of the failed Soviet coup of August 19, 1991. The retrospective essay examines the changes in the political rights and civil liberties in the former Soviet Union over the last two decades, as well as includes graphs and rankings that illustrate the region's performance in the annual Freedom House publications Freedom in the World and Freedom of the Press. The report  concludes that there is a serious and disturbing failure to embrace democratic institutions in most of the post-Soviet region.

Programs

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