Freedom Quote by Simon Sebag Montefiore

“The fundamental principle of the Russian government has always been the autocratic ruler who combines all legislative and executive powers and disposes of all…

— Martin Sixsmith

“Russia was a kleptocracy, all the power in the hands of a corrupt few. The term thrown around these days was “elite capture”; the…

— Mark Greaney

Every Russian emperor from Peter the Great to Stalin and Putin knows a leader and his security agencies must never be parted. His safety…

— Simon Sebag Montefiore

“Authority in Russia had always been transferred through natural death, conspiracy or revolution,”

— Steven Lee Myers

“Russians consider themselves civilized Europeans, but have to endure the humiliation of daily encounters with officials that belong in a squalid dictatorship.”

— Oliver Bullough

The clash between the aspirations of the people for a better life and the insistence of their rulers on building a powerful state, regardless…

— Harrison Salisbury

In Russia whenever you encounter a minor official, he lets you know that he is above you and that you depend on him. It…

— Vladimir Sorokin

“The Soviet regime robbed people not only of their ability to live freely but also of the ability to understand fully what had been…

— Masha Gessen

“Lesson taught by History: do not fight Russians in their own territory.”

— Victor Bello Accioly

“Her profession? Ah! as to that, English readers, try not to be too severe. Russia is a great, but hard mistress, who demands of…

— Emmuska Orczy

“Beijing’s preferred method of control, in Russia as in Africa, has been legal contracts on terms advantageous to itself.”

— Timothy Snyder

You said treaties, and a Russian official said ; we have not agreement... contracts, that we have to fulfill, and those contracts are like…

— Bashar al-Assad