~~In US, states have power, in Russia, they have nothing. Moscow decides what happens in the rest of the empire. This was the case for centuries, czars or communists.~~
You have a valid point, sure. What about Ukraine? Are regions that much independent or not?
On my very scientific scale of 1 to 10, where North Korea is 1, Russia is a 3, Ukraine a 4.
In Ukraine, mayors are slightly stronger, and locally elected bodies can and sometimes do give a non-confidence vote to the central government’s appointee (governor)
From the very beginning of protests, one of the demands was to give more powers to the locally elected government, which meant letting the governors be elected locally, so it’s not an appointee from the capital. Lack of such legislature in Rada after 5 months now, is one of the criticisms of Yatseniuk, Poroshenko and Co. As for myself, I can give them leeway FOR NOW, because 1)they don’t have full control of this Rada with the Region/Communists in there, and 2)the immediate concern is the war.
(Yeah-yeah, the pro-Russian cynics will say that nothing will change, to which I’ll say that there’s a chance that things will change, but in Russia it’s almost a guarantee that it will stay the same. Also, with the trauma of EuroMaidan and the war in the East, there’s greater scrutiny and demand for the politicians to do what they’re there to do. If they fail, there will be a Third, Fourth Maidan, and looking at the first two, it appears they’re getting bloodier and bloodier)