So I think one can say on empirical grounds - not because of some philosophical principle - that you can't have democracy unless you have a market economy.

Let me say again that the relationship is asymmetrical: there's no democracy without a market economy, but you can have a market economy without democracy.

In a market economy, however, the individual has some possibility of escaping from the power of the state.

It has been true in Western societies and it seems to be true elsewhere that you do not find democratic systems apart from capitalism, or apart from a market economy, if you prefer that term.

I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.

My claim is that we do not have a market economy, but a capitalist economy.