Russian Elections (itogi)

The net result of all protest demonstrations heavily sponsored by US and, especially, European taxpayers was a real consolidation of the Russian electorate behind Putin. Whatever narrative will be invented now to describe his victory, the simple fact is that he received the mandate on legitimacy, which was hardly achievable before the views and behavior of the opposition leaders had less popular exposure. There are many ways policy can be changed in a dictatorship: street protests, armed rebellion, palace coup, foreign pressure on the leader, etc. Policy can be changed in a democracy in only two ways: one is a formation of a popular party, which can challenge the ruling consensus, another is infiltration of a ruling party by people with different views. And that's it.