goyacobol said:
I met a young Russian at a local restaurant formerly owned by an American, now deceased, who married a Russian wife. Her brother or nephew ( I forget the relationship) recently moved to U.S. and we talked briefly about Putin. He is under the impression that Putin is very rich. I brought up the idea that Putin addressed the problem of the oligarchs and foreign investment but his perception was that Putin just benefited from his position and he mentioned that Putin is in office due to a change in their constitution to allow an extended term in office. This particular younger Russian was not happy about the change in the length of the presidential term from 4 to 6 years. Our perceptions are open to manipulation and I can see that the truth is not always easy to determine.
In addition to what Keit has already explained above, it could be added that there is some difference in perception/evaluation of Putin's input among different ages and levels of the Russian society.
Some younger people, those who had no or little experience of the 90s' hardships, tend to perceive a good leader as a given, because they have no one to compare with. Another problem is their own sometimes grand egos and arrogance preventing them from adequate evaluation of other people's efforts and achievements. They prefer to see only the negative side, the problems (economic, social and other) not yet fully solved, and unwilling or unable to see the bigger picture (as to
who actually caused those problems and
who is now trying hard to solve them). Such people just appear to be too young and immature to discern the crux of the matter.
The same can be applied to the upper level of the Russian society: the intelligentsia and/or simply reach and powerful people. Many of these people, although adult enough to consider themselves generation of the 90s, had no experience of hardships either. And because of their high status (prestigious education and/or positions), they also consider it somehow 'below their level' to acknowledge Putin's outstanding work.
To put it simply: Putin is mostly admired, respected and valued by the
ordinary, usually adult and experienced people, who often have no money or power, but who have good memory instead.
As for the extension of his presidency term, many Russians would actually be happy, if his term was extended from 6 years to forever, as it is factually the case with our two closest neighbours and allies: Belarus and Kazakhstan. The leaders of these two countries have been in office since 90s (for about 20 years, that is). And because these two countries are run by the two strong and experienced statesmen and not by some temporary puppets, both countries still manage to effectively counteract any bloody 'regime changes' so far. Our Western partners prefer to call them 'dictators', but the truth is: they are simply patriots of their countries working hard for their own people.
And just to share with you one more resent example, about a week ago we had regional elections here in Russia. At that time I was visiting my relatives in Kemerovo region. The governor of this region, Aman Touleyev, was re-elected with a stunning 97% (or so) of votes. He has also been running the region since 90s. He is already 70 (!) years old and was willing to actually resign because of his health issues. But President Putin
personally asked him to stay, because Mr. Touleyev has always been among the most efficient governors in Russia.
After the elections, such opposition TV channels like RBC (read: Western NGOs) started voicing their 'concerns' and 'outrage' about such 'lack of democracy' as well as their doubts about the election transparency. Just to give you all an idea of what RBC et al. are all about, here is an example: one of their anchors is Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of the recently deceased 'prominent Putin's critic' Boris Nemtsov. You might wish to search Sott.net for more info about him and his 'opposition' activities.
But the truth is that Aman Touleyev is indeed super popular in his region. As I said, I was there at the time of the elections, and I saw myself how many people came to vote. It could be difficult to see it from RBC's palatial Moscow offices, but I could clearly see - from my own window - those hundreds of ordinary people coming to the neighbouring school to give their votes for Mr. Touleyev.
So yes, when Western or Western-sponsored outlets start criticizing Russian leaders, all they can come up with is 'he's been in office for too long, hence he is a dictator and the whole system is totalitarian' or 'look at his expensive watches, he must be too rich to be decent'. How pathetic is that?
Sorry for a long rant, fwiw.
