[iavael]

After major political changes, such as the February Revolution or the collapse of the Soviet Union, there were brief periods of freedom. But, yeah, most of the time Russian authorities are quite oppressing and power-grabbing (even if not all the instances were fascist in a strict sense). Almost all major elections since 1996 have been rigged, for example. But many people in the West keep saying that every Russian is accountable for atrocities committed by the Russian government because they "elected" that government.