Everyone lives to rules and laws decided by others - be it governments, parliament, councils or their bosses so true freedom is a myth. To be classed as free for the purposes of the article it seems they are measuring freedom by how much influence another country has on yours - hence the Russian influence on election quote - but surely we all in some way rely on other countries for trade ?
We might be free to protest or rally, free to have an opinion or take a stand against something we don't believe in but you can guarantee the police are free to arrest us and throw us in jail if it goes against what the ruling bodies decide for us.