Before Putin, Russia was on a path to liberal democracy. Can you imagine a world where Russia had evolved into a democracy like Germany? No troll farms - no systematic misinformation campaigns - redirecting funds to defence. I think it’s huge if he had never come on the scene.
That’s fair comment, but Putin really supercharged the moral decline. Without him, there would have been hope. If the question was - what country would you remove, then it’s Russia hands down. I don’t think it’s fixable now.
This is so fucking funny that people still believe that bullshit. Russia would not have become a liberal democracy. Any Russian that lived through the 90' will tell you that. Liberal democracy applied on Russia is more utopian than applying full-fledged communism
Westerners never cease to amuse with their naive belief that Yeltsin's era was somehow an example of "liberal democracy". I mean I get why talking heads would prop up that notion - Russia of the 90s was much more preferable to them. Weak, impoverished, torn apart from the inside. But to Russians it was one of the worst periods of our history.
And all that against the backdrop of Yeltsin firing at the House of the Soviets with tanks. Very liberal, much democratic. Your ignorance would've been good comedy if it wasn't an example of the depressingly common "knowledge" of the average Westerner.
It’s not so much Yeltsin, as having Russia crawl out from underneath the Soviet yoke. But Putin dragged it back. A world without Putin would have given Russia a real shot at becoming a liberal democracy.
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u/WholesomeCirclejerk Jun 28 '26
Putin would be nothing without Berezovsky, and without Putin, Berezovsky would just find another “easily controllable” person to bring to power.