Russian parliamentary election

By: V-Dem Staff
Sep 19, 2016


With the V-Dem variables Government Censorship Efforts on Media and Internet, Media Self-censorship, and the Alternative Sources of Information Index we can map the current state of affairs for voters’ access to unbiased information in Russia.

Since 1999, after almost a decade of relatively censorship-free media, the Government Censorship Efforts variable have decreased steadily, and this trend has been matched in the Media-self Censorship variable following the same patterns. Furthermore, our graph indicates that internet was relatively free from censorship for the years data has been available, but does also witness a recent decline. Lastly, the Alternative Sources of Information variable, critical to electors in case of government censorship efforts, have low levels throughout, indicating lack of diverse information in the Russian media landscape.

You can find out more about government censorship efforts or compare the Russian development to other countries using the online analysis tool at v-dem.net.