Ashot Egiazaryan: Can Russia Ever Change?

Mr. Egiazaryan is a member of Russia's outgoing State Duma and is currently living in the United States out of fear for his personal safety.

Vladimir Putin's decision to return to the Kremlin for a third term shows that, 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia remains unable to transform its political model. Russia retains a heavily centralized, highly inefficient state with weak institutions that do not represent the people. Property is still largely owned and controlled by government officials, civil society remains underdeveloped and consciousness of civic responsibility weak at best.

By historical standards, today's authoritarian system in Russia is of the soft variety: The apparatus of repression is only used selectively and there are pockets of freedom, notably on the Internet, that the authorities choose not to control. Russians today also enjoy unprecedented freedom of travel.

Yet the much vaunted "stability" associated with Mr. Putin's rule is threatened by a lack of civic participation. I'd estimate that roughly 20% of Russian society is progressively minded and capable of driving change. But this vital faction is largely apathetic and sees no prospect of fundamental reform. Marginalized by heavily managed state media and farcical elections, their energies are going to waste. Instead of a vigorous political debate among people with competing visions of how to run the country, there is silence. 

At the same time, the ruling elite sense that Russia is set on a dangerous course...