Earlier today Russian state television interrupted normal programming to provide live coverage of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s report to the State Duma on the Government’s performance over the past months and its priorities for the future. This was followed by a period of Q&A during which Duma deputies representing each of the parties in the lower house were given about 10 minutes to respond to the report and to make their own statements or to pose questions.

It is commonplace in the West to assume that the State Duma is a rubber stamp legislative body, that there are no Opposition parties, and that Russia is run by one monolithic party called United Russia. That is because only individuals or groups totally hostile to Putin would be recognized as genuine Opposition by the West, and there are no such individuals or groups in the Russian State Duma.

However, as I have…