&gt; Current regime in Russia has learned the lesson<p>Why is it a &quot;regime&quot;? Putin was democratically elected and even Western opinion research institutes unequivocally attest that he is supported by 85 to 90 percent of the Russian population.<p>In US media this is always attributed to &quot;propaganda&quot; while economic successes that might have an influence on Russian votes is completely ignored. For example: Russian GDP rose during Putins years tenfold. Russia reduced its foreign debt down to 23% of GDP and a flat tax of 13% for everyone was introduced. (I live in the EU and I am basically robbed by my government - I pay a hefty 50% tax on top of being forced to charge 20% VAT from my customers)<p>If these aren&#x27;t good reasons to vote for someone then I don&#x27;t know what is. I would vote for ANY party (except radicals), be it left or right that would stimulate GDP growth while reducing my taxes down to 13%.