bollocks. there is a lot more to freedom than being able to criticise the government.
>You might be penalised if you are disrespectful to people (racist etc.)
the concept of "racism" is political and its definition is subjective. fact is in the uk you cannot express (on social media or in polite company) anything that veers from an incredibly narrow and increasingly progressive overton window. more people in the uk are arrested for social media posts than in russia, but i'm not even just talking about the legal repercussions for wrongthink but also social and financial.
the uk is just an incredibly stifling environment where large swathes of the population are afraid to express their true opinions on important matters to anyone but their closest friends. you are liable to lose your job if you made a joke on twitter 12 years ago and the wrong people find it. pretending we live in a free country is bizarre.
also btw in russia you can be all "fuck putin" as much as you want amongst normal people and even on social media to a degree. it's only real activism where the state feels genuinely threatened and they will clamp down on you
