In Russia the word "democracy" has some negative meaning. After Soviet Union collapse there was a period (1990-2000) of "freedom" with economic downturn, povert

In Russia the word "democracy" has some negative meaning. After Soviet Union collapse there was a period (1990-2000) of "freedom" with economic downturn, poverty, hyperinflation, corruption, raise of criminal activity and a war in Chechnya. By the way, Wikipedia says [1] that ecomomic problems might be a result of reforms suggested by American economists. Russia began recovering only when Putin became a President. Putin likes to remind about this saying things like "Do you remember what the country was before I became the President? You don't want to return to that time, don't you?" People in Russia want higher salary (median salary is $500/month) and reasonable mortgage interest rates (now it can be as high as 12%), not more democracy. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_to_market_economy_.281991.E2.80.9398.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Russia#Transition_t...