Every election that doesn’t turn up CIA gets declared to be rigged without any evidence. 1/4 of Russia parliament/duma is held by other parties. Just because we think its natural for the most money to fund disinformation and divisiveness should win government, it doesn’t prove that Putin/UR party can’t be genuinely popular for policies that have fixed/been helpful to Russia, and the necessity of defending itself.

Our media is programmed to diminish Russia rather than promote any humanist outcome for Russia, and so our impression of Russian politics shouldn’t be weighed as more reality based than Russian perceptions. Objective counter corruption measures and reigning in of oligarchy, can as we would narrate, repressing political opposition, or it can be effective governance that deserves popularity.