Freedom House released new edition of Nations in Transit, annual analysis of democratic development from Central Europe to Central Asia.

The year’s events show that the entrenchment of authoritarian rule has come at the cost of increased corruption, censorship of the media, suppression of civil society, and in some cases violence against the political opposition, the report says.

However, amid negative trends Armenia is one of the six states which improved democracy indicators.

“Georgia and Armenia made strides toward more competitive and fair elections as a result of new electoral laws that emphasized equal access to campaign resources and media coverage. Though there was some abuse of administrative resources and polling-day violations persisted, competitiveness improved and both votes yielded more representative legislature,” the report says.

“In contrast to these improvements, Ukraine’s downward spiral continued as parliamentary elections were marred by political prosecutions, legal manipulations, large-scale abuse of administrative resources, opaque campaign finances, and bribery. In Russia, following a deeply flawed election that was condemned by international monitors, Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency and is now scheduled to be in office until 2018.”