Democracy is under attack in Europe and Eurasia.Freedom House says 12 of the 29 countries it assessed in its new report received downgrades in their level of democracy- especially in parts of Europe and Eurasia.And the group lays much of the blame on Russia.Sylvana Habdank-Kolaczkowska is project director of the report titled "Nations in Transit",“the big story for the 2015 edition is not surprisingly Russia’s escalation of and new forms of aggression internationally and domestically,”The report uses various factors like the electoral process and independent media in making its determinations.It says Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine threatens both.“Russia is a driver of the decline in Eurasia, particularly in areas of civil society, and that has really accelerated in the last few years.”even if only to the level that existed before the regime of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych.“Civil society was always and remains extremely vibrant in Ukraine.The fact that that was the one rating that didn’t really decline under Yanukovych is something that other authoritarian leaders have noticed,
