I'm no George Will fan, but he's right in saying that Russia is a nationalist socialist state minus the explicit racial identitarianism. Russia is nowhere close to being as free as the free state of Florida or Texas, notwithstanding federal overreach. Russia, is, however, more free than Canada and Australia and blue states, but that isn't saying much.

The fact of the matter is that the entire “free world,” US included, would be much freer if we were ruled by Russia. In Russia President Putin has made it clear that vaccination is a personal choice and there can be no coercion of the individual as under rule in the West.

Are you sure about that?

Free as going in and out of multiple lockdowns?

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/moscow-embarks-sweeping-lockdown-covid-19-deaths-surge-2021-10-28/

And the best thing is that RT is peddling pro vaccine propaganda in Russia while peddling anti vaccine propaganda in Europe.

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/11/11/the-two-faces-of-rt-s-coronavirus-propaganda