Russia: A Continuation to Undermine Democracy

By Alec

Over the past decade, the Russian Federation has cracked down on the human rights of its citizens in an effort to maintain power. For example, Russia has killed countless journalists who have either written critically of Russian President Vladimir Putin or who have openly questioned the Russian Federation’s government. For example, journalist Boris Nemtsov was gunned down in the shadow of the Kremlin. Another example of Russia’s violation of rights are the oppression of religious and ethnic minorities. For instance, Russia’s Checnynan population is blamed oftentimes without evidence for terrorist activities in Russia.

The most threatening actions the Russian Federation has taken are the attempted interference in United States elections. Putin earned international attention, in particular, for Russian attempted interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Russian hackers released information -- some of it factual and some of it false -- about Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The goal of Putin was to have Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election because he felt Trump would be less harsh on Russia than the Obama Administration.


There is a lot of discussion as to how the new administration is going to handle Putin and his attempts to seize more power. The conflict between Russia and America is not as simplified as it was during the Cold War: Capitalism vs Communism and good vs evil. Russia and America do have common interests in stopping terrorism and maintaining peace in the Middle East. However, an administration cannot give Putin too much leeway for Russia to expand its influence in countries such as Ukraine like the Obama Administration. However, an administration cannot openly turn a blind eye to the attacks on Democracy, which Trump repeatedly did. Biden must be on alert for Russia to undermine democracy given how they have destroyed the post Soviet democratic state.


https://time.com/5565991/russia-influence-2016-election/
https://www.mccaininstitute.org/working-group-making-the-case-for-human-rights-in-russia/
https://www.dw.com/en/boris-nemtsov-the-man-who-dared-to-criticize-vladimir-putin/a-52561085