Andy notes that the only opposition party in Russia today is the communists.

Actually, the KPRF has been the main opposition party in Russia for most (if not all) of the last decade. I haven’t followed it’s fortunes all that closely for a few years but, several years back, it seemed to have comfortably reconciled itself to working within the new, more democratic, system. In the late 1990s the KPRF dominated the Duma and, instead the legislative process grinding to a halt before a brick wall of communist obstruction, the Duma during that period was one of the most effective in Russia’s (short) post-Soviet history.

This actually makes for an interesting discussion topic. Is it good to have any opposition party in an authoritarian state, if even they are communists?