Is Russia truly democratic today or is it still

an authoritarian state?
According to www.dictionary.com, there are three definitions of authoritarian,
favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual
freedom, of or relating to a governmental or political system, principle. Another
definition from www.dictionary.com for authoritarian is practice in which individual
freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state,
centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally
accountable to the people, and exercising complete or almost complete control over
the will of another or of others. Also, www.dictionary.com defines democratic as
pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy, pertaining to or
characterized by the principle of political or socialequality for all. Dictionary.com
also definies democratic as advocating or upholding democracy, of, relating to, or
characteristic of the Democratic Party, of, relating to, or belonging to the
Democratic-Republican Party. Looking at a dictionary for the definitions of
authoritarian and democratic are important to understand if Russia is still an
authoritarian state today or has become a democratic state. Today in Russia, they
are still an authoritarian state, based off the definitions of authoritarian and
democratic. Without looking at the definition of the words, Russia is still
authoritarian, since they do not work the same way a democracy works, and has
always worked. They are authoritarian for many reasons, one major reason is that
they have had the same people in and out of office for many years, with Putin
leaving office and Medvedev coming into office, and vice versa. Russia was once
almost democratic, when over 20 years ago communist hard-liners staged a coup,
sending massive tanks to the Russian White House in a massive effort to save the
Soviet Union. Instead of saving the Soviet Union, the people showed a powerful
expression of democracy, something that people in Russia have not done in the
years since. Today, Russia remains an authoritarian state, with Vladimir Putin ruling
the government in the same White House the coup tried to attack over 20 years
ago. The coup who defended the White House thought they would change history
with the sending of tanks into the Russian White House, but have not changed
history. In 2015, Russian elections are not fair, there are no independence for the
courts and there is no toleration for political resistance. In a democracy, there are
fair elections, the courts are independent, and political resistance is tolerated. With
the democracy, if someone does like not a politician running for government, they
can oppose that person and not vote for them to be in office. Compared to a
democratic state, in an authoritarian state if someone opposes a politician going
into office, that is not tolerated and that person could and may be punished. Russia
will not have a democracy or become a democratic state. They have too much they
would have to change in order to go from an authoritarian state to a democratic
state like a majority of the world is today.