Re: The suspect list is a bit longer than that.
Right on! That's the beauty of an open (and democratic) society ... we can disagree with our leaders, without the risk of being hastily terminated, Navalny-style, Politkovskaya-style, Prigogine-style, Khashoggi-style, Masha Amini-style, Kim Jong-nam-style, and so forth. The press is free to criticize the government, and does so, and the results of polls can be published without fears for one's life. RT's Abby Martin (Breaking the Set) thought she had this freedom too, but a mere month after mildly criticizing Putin, she was gone ... and found 3 months later on TeleSur (Venezuela) in a studio without sufficient electricity to run the spotlights.
The supreme popularity of authoritarian leaders is wildly exaggerated (illusory).