Sign up now for TIME's WorldWatch email newsletter. In the spring of 1989, Soviet citizens were voting for a new legislature, the first free national elections in 70 years. More than a decade later, the USSR has been relegated to the history books. Yeltsin has retired.
Democracy is now, in theory, Russia's system of government.
But the economy remains in shambles. Unemployment and corruption are rampant. Thanks to the prevailing poverty, cheese and aspirin are still difficult for many to buy. And democracy is arguably no more entrenched in Russian life than a decade ago. Russia's long history has been one marked far more by autocracy and authoritarian rule than by popular participation.