Follow
They are rigged and falsification of ballots at all levels is common, there's plenty of videos of that. The main issue is that suppression of the opposition with people aspiring to enter politics subject to all kind of organised harassment (Navalny) or killed (Nemtsov).
However, on the ground it looks much more optimistic than in the media. There *is* strong civil society in Russia and thousands of people are active in politics. The regime is weak, it's a bit like 80's now.
