But we should call a spade, a spade. Russian has not become republic due to growing power of President "I Luv Stalin" Putin.
We don't when it comes to Saudi Arabia whose citizens attacked our country. Nor do we with Mexico whose citizens invade our country.
the russian people seem to be behind putin. it is very likely that the next president of russia will be a putin supporter. all said and done russian people elect their president. so i would call it a democracy.
i agree with SOME decisions that putin has taken in the past. the oligarchs that he put in prison were corrupt thugs. they were "capitalists in the enron mould".