It seems the Russians are incapable of living without a boot on their necks. Living under an autocracy is what they want and it is what they get. In a way you could say that the Russian people are "institutionalized." They have evolved as a nation moving from the tribal chieftain, to Czar, both had the power of life and death over them. The communist dictators replaced the Czar and continued to wield life and death power over the average citizen. State organizations held everyone in control through fear. Their brief flirtation with democracy and its rapid failure shows that the Russian mindset isn't willing to accept the uncertainty and sacrifices that is required to maintain a democracy. They prefer the guarantees of mediocrity provided by communism in its various guises. I can recall the citizens who grew up under the communist thumb complaining about the changes brought on by their short experiment with democracy and I knew then the it was doomed to failure. Then Putin came along and offered them the same reassurances that Lenin and Stalin gave them, and they embraced it with open arms. Like inmates of a prison, they have come to depend on the boot on their necks, it offers them stability and succor. They don't have to worry about the uncertainties of freedom. They get their crumbs regularly have their shabby roofs of high density mass produced apartments over their heads and look forward to the feel of the hobnails digging into their necks every night and it helps them sleep.

@Toryu88 You have to add that over the last 200 years, those who wanted to see freedom and the rule of law in Russia were either imprisoned or forced to emigrate. The remainder retained a genetic and societal affinity for slavery. When the serfdom was ended in Russia in 1861 some peasants rioted to preserve it. Democracy and associated ideas of personal freedom and responsibility never developed. 60 years later communists took control of the country, and the feeble attempts at democracy were terminated.