The international organization Freedom House has called Russia a country with a "repressive environment," which attacks civil and democratic freedoms in other countries, according to their report "Freedom in the World 2017."
According to the report, Russia is showing hostility by interfering in the political process of the United States and other democratic countries, increasing its military support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as its continued occupation of Ukrainian territory. The report also notes the increase in political repression in Russia.
In the report's infographic, where the level of freedom was estimated on a scale of 0 to 100 points (100 being the best result), Russia has just 20 points. Its closest "neighbors" in the results turned out to be China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 19 points each, and Iran with 17. Syria's result was minus 1 point on the scale.
The best performances from the list were in the Nordic countries: Finland, Norway and Sweden. Canada scored 99 points, Australia, 98 and U.S., 89.
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