Has there been "rollback" of democracy in Russia under Putin?

... in self-government, so we elect people to represent us. From time to time, we pass judgment on their performance by means of elections. And yet, according to Jean-Jacques Rousseu, Englishmen are slaves, except for once every five years when they elect ... ... situation has improved greatly since Matlock and Holmes gave these assessments. If Putin had wanted to establish a genuine dictatorship, he has had sixteen years to do so. By “genuine dictatorship,” I mean something like the regimes of Pinochet ...