The man is ex-KGB, installed himself in power for life and somehow his critics have a way of getting killed or tripping on some soviet nerve agents.

It's hard to tell who installed Putin into power. I suspect ex-soviet agents in Germany, Schröder[0] and Merkel, which may help him.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%C3%B6der

Merkel of Germany has been chancellor since 2005 (15 years) Putin has been president since 2000 with 4 years break (16 years).

So technically he is not THAT bad in comparison.

German elections are considerably more legitimate. For one, opposition politicians aren’t poisoned.

Does it matter? Elections in Russia is not free and fair. Tyrants rarely are good for a country. Sad to see that the Russian people will have more suffering in their future.

Ask Boris Nemtsov how opposing Putin turns out from inside the Duma.

Except she was voted without cheating, never killed the opposition or controls all branches of government and media.

Voted by who?

German chancellor is elected by Bundestag and not directly by the people.

I guess in terms of USA that would be like Democrats and Republicans coming up with a president.

> I guess in terms of USA that would be like Democrats and Republicans coming up with a president.

That's totally normal, and happens in a lot of places. For instance, in Canada, you vote for your local representatives (MPs), the party that ends up with the most MPs (roughly speaking) gets their leader installed as Prime Minister. Then, of course, the Head of State is actually the Queen who's represented by the Governor General, who is in turn nominated by the Prime Minister.

None of that matters, of course, wrt: freedom.

> 4 years break

Right...

Wasn't he the 'prime minister' during those 4 years? I thought he more or less just switched positions with Medvedev for those 4 years.

Yes, while they did a little bit of Constitutional refactoring.

Yes. Who do you think was really in charge