text: The political rights and civil liberties categories contain numerical ratings between 1 and 7 for each country or territory, with 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free. ... Russia found among non-liberal countries - 13.01.10, Rustavi 2
  Russia has been found in the list of non-liberal countries ... Improvements were seen throughout the Balkans, with Kosovo moving from Not Free to Partly Free after its recent elections and Montenegro moving up to the Free category. By contrast, virtually all of the countries in the non-Baltic former Soviet Union continued to pursue a repressive course, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, which was downgraded from Partly Free to Not Free.