Parliamentary government and political competition are the oldest traditions in Russian politics. Where did they come from, and why did they disappear? Writer Mikhail Zygar explains in a new film.

It’s hard to believe today, but Rus’ had a parliament before Britain did and a woman with the political stature of a prime minister five centuries before Margaret Thatcher. The Novgorod Republic was a state in which the prince was a hired manager, major decisions were made by the veche or popular as