Freedom in Ukraine has

improved, while civil liberties are on the decline in Russia. The situation in Russian-annexed Crimea is even worse than in the Russian Federation as a whole. These are the

results of the research “Freedom in the World – 2015,” published by the international human rights

organization Freedom House.

Ukraine’s status is “partly free,” the general freedom rating is 3 (1 = best, 7 = worst). It is based on two main indicators: political rights and civil liberties. Ukraine’s political rights rating rose from 4 to 3. The study authors explain this by improvements in political pluralism, parliamentary elections, and government transparency following the departure of President Viktor Yanukovych.