Russia is tricky. Sad truth is that Putin is actually more popular in Russia as the western leaders in their own countries. He does not really need to "finetune" the elections, he would win it anyways.

Note, case is similar about Kim Jong Un. About a third of the population dislikes him¹. That is a normal value for a stable, well-established, fairly elected government.

We can talk about, why is it so. Anti-Western explanation is that democracy in the form defined by the collective West, is simply not attractive for these countries. Another endless story, why is it so.

The pro-western explanation is that these people are the object of generation long brainwash.

You have your multiple views and you are free to choice between them.

¹_{There is no way to measure it. Info is from an escaped member of the North Korean internal police, afaik I have seen it on the youtube}

Russia is tricky. Reality is that Putin is actually more popular in Russia as the western leaders in their own countries. He does not really need to "finetune" the elections, he would win it anyways.

Note, case is similar about Kim Jong Un. About a third of the population dislikes him¹. That is a normal value for a stable, well-established, fairly elected government.

We can talk about, why is it so. Anti-Western explanation is that democracy in the form defined by the collective West, is simply not attractive for these countries. Another endless story, why is it so.

The pro-western explanation is that these people are the object of generation long brainwash.

You have your multiple views and you are free to choice between them.

¹_{There is no way to measure it. Info is from an escaped member of the North Korean internal police, afaik I have seen it on the youtube}