It’s why I consider Putin to be a liberal with 95% less decorum. He still puts on show elections because, well, he’s a liberal. But everyone knows who’s in charge. Even with actual elections, most Russians either support Putin and/or Russia as an institution, so anyone supporting it gets their support. No different than Americans, except Americans are 95% decorum and they’re convinced everything they see is reality then get mad when it doesn’t conform to what they’re told.