In reality the common Russian has 0 say in the governance of his/her country. The reason why (Tsar) Putin reports impossible and quite absurd “election” statistics of 80-90 percent is because every “Vote” becomes a “Yes” when the results are manipulated. This is how autocracy works.
I do not care how much of a conspiracy theorist you are, nobody in the world gets 80-90% support from their people. Its just not possible. Not even Mother Teresa or Gandhi would get 90% approval.
Opposition politicians are jailed, barred from running or forced into exile. Media and journalists who are critical of the government are labeled as “foreign agents” and not allowed to participate. Just like in China.
In Russia, opposition politicians are not only imprisoned, they are killed.