Russia have never been a democratic state, but maybe it can become such. Maybe not now, but after thirty or forty years. I hope so. I'm so naive [:
You have to be more specific. Yes, in the western countries, leaders are elected democratically, but people suffer, e.g. there is more prisoners in United States then anywhere. And in Europe people can go to jail for speaking their mind. Why don't we fix western world first.
russia used to go in a good direction.. then came putin. Russia has now surpassed Belarus, long considered to be europe's last dicatorship, in lack of freedom. Russia is about as free as China, egypt and zimbabwe... Even iraq, pakistan, and burma are freer than russia. according to the 'democracy index'. in russia, people are assassinated for speaking their mind. Could be that russia has a lower prison population simply because they rather kill them imprison.