Having lived through the collapse of democracy in Russia, Kinok and journalist Kanygin say they see warning signs of backsliding in the United States.
“ Everything is very familiar to me. But you know, the funny thing is that for Vladimir Putin it took 20-something years to achieve what they eventually achieved, right? Shutting down every institution working for the society. Shutting down media and control media over media, control over, and judges, et cetera, et cetera,” says Kanygin.
“But in the U.S. it’s happening even quicker, even faster, in a more aggressive way… for Donald Trump, it seems like, it seems like one year is enough, right? There are a lot of protests on the streets, like in Minneapolis in California. There are some turmoil in Congress, but it’s not enough as we see it, because Trump has such a strong support among his constituency that he’s able to do what he wants, actually. And that is exactly what Vladimir Putin still has, right?”