Freedom House released 2017 year report on the level of political and civil liberties in 195 countries around the world. Of these countries, 87 are rated free, 59 – partly free and 49 – not free.
Russia
In the report Russia is marked as authoritarian country, which stands to gain from a breakdown in democratic norms at the international level.
“Russia followed a comparable pattern, combining domestic repression with an ambitious program of regional intimidation and long-distance political sabotage. The regime of President Vladimir Putin stage-managed Russia’s parliamentary and regional elections, leading to record low turnout and the total extinction of liberal opposition in the legislature. The Kremlin also added to its blacklists of “extremist” websites and NGOs that it considers “foreign agents” or “undesirable.” – the report reads.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan has once again for several years in a row been listed as one of the least free countries. Over the past 10 years the situation in Azerbaijan has been only getting worse – the report outlines. Azerbaijan and a number of other Eastern countries are prone to instability, as there are attempts to strengthen existing power, according to the Freedom House report.
According to the report, the situation in Azerbaijan is worse than in Cuba, China or Iran.
Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova
Azerbaijan’s neighbors, Armenia and Georgia, are included in the number of partly free countries.
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are moving towards democracy, but situation also worsened there according to the report:
“While Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova struggled to build on fragile democratic gains, several leaders to the east took steps to shore up their power in the face of economic and political uncertainty.” – Said the report.
See full report here.
