Putin: democracy and civil society cannot be imported
MOSCOW. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Real democracy cannot be imported, the leaders of the countries, which implement such schemes, are mere vassals, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"The real democracy and civil society are impossible to import, I said so many times. They cannot be a product of the work of foreign do-gooders, even these supposedly act with the best intentions," Putin told the Valdai Club on Thursday.
In theory it may be possible, he said.
"But to be honest, I have to see this and I am not much of a believer in it," the president said.
"We can see how imported democratic models are functioning: it is just a shell, a fiction as a rule. A fiction devoid of inner substance, even a semblance of sovereignty. Where such a scheme is being implemented, people are not really being asked about anything and their leaders are no more than vassals. And a vassal, as is known, has everything decided for him by the master," Putin said.