Hybrid regime and media control as major determinants of popular support for Vladimir Putin: Evidence from international election observation missions' reports

This thesis study's analysis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's elections reports, Russian legal texts and Russian survey reports has also led to the confirmation of this view: the regime in Russia should be referred to the hybrid, not authoritarian. And the main criteria within hybrid regime that leads to such a massive support for Putin lies in the manipulation of the public opinion through the media channels.