Elections to the Russian Duma in 2016: relevant or a waste of time and money?

This article was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/elections-to-the-russian-duma-in-2016/ Judging by the reactions in the western corporate media, the 2016 elections to the Russian Duma are basically a non-event: evil Putin kept his “grip on power”, all the parties in the Duma are basically under his control and no real opposition was allowed to emerge. Even in Russia, there are some who agree, but for different reasons. They say that