to wonder why people in russia love Putin so much despite him creaming the country to become the richest person in the world

[entiledornot]

So Vlad has one of the highest ratings of leaders. Yet he has taken billions in dodgy deals when selling off state assets that many believe makes him the richest person in the world. He's also the most powerful in the world.

Yet many of his people are staving. But they still love him?

Are they stupid?

Breakingdad, you are aware that these former states were poached by Stalin during the war and that he illegally held onto them, brutally repressing all protest/ openness/ political freedoms? And that from the 1950s to the 1990s they fought for their independence from Moscow?

There is no democracy in Russia. It is a sham. There is also no freedom of speech. So people are fed lies. They may well love Putin and see him as the least worst scenario.

Putin changed the political set up to suit himself

Yes and pretty much every Russian leader in history has 'suited themselves' at the cost of the Russian people.

Emilywrites, why do you think the Western press avoided mentioning the Russian soldiers in Kiev?

BreakingDad, here's a photo of a Russian soldier at a let's-take-over-Ukraine type rally, in Ukraine. This was taken last year in Crimea. Russians speak the language in an accent that is different from the Russian spoken by Ukrainians, so there was no mistake. These soldiers and their flags and their rallies were all over Crimea even as Western media appeared confused about whether or not Russia was involved, or how much Russia was involved, etc. The Russian mercenaries prevented normal Ukrainians from voting in many of the elections that came later; Russians voted on their behalf.

Message from MNHQ: photo withdrawn at poster's request

MamaMary, I don't know. It is scary because it was so obvious. It wasn't hidden, or ambiguous in any way. Maybe the Western media is just as regulated as Russia's, at least where Ukraine is concerned?

Oh, and a lot of the "Crimean" citizens at those rallies? They were imported Russians as well.

They don't, but if they disagree publicly, they end up in being imprisoned, as happened to Pussy Riot.

Or murdered, like Alexander Litvinenko.

www.expat.ru/s_russian_mind.php

Interesting article I thought

Never mind people in Russia. My brother in law has married a Russian (who has said she does not support Putin) and bizarrely has become very pro Putin himself. Whether this is due to his wife and she actually does support Putin or not I can't say. It is very odd though. He's British, has only ever lived in England and generally speaking is quite the Little Englander.

I work with Russians and several of them have family in the area which was Russian until Khrushchev handed it to Ukraine in 1953/4.

Many of them speak Russian, they hate being ruled by the Ukraine and do not want to be part of Europe but want to be part of Russia. Not all do and the younger generation tend to be less pro Russia than the older one.

It suits the West to paint it in terms of Big bad Russia taking over the area but it isn't as simple as that.

Many Russians love Putin. He is strong, he has made the West stand up and take notice, he has given them security after an uncertain period.

It's hard to make sense of from an English perspective. But we have a long history of relatively free speech and a culture of mistrusting leaders. Russia has a long history of not at all free speech and dictatorial leaders, whether tsars or communists - or Putin.

Western democracies seem to struggle with the notion that, once exposed to democracy, other nations often shrug their shoulders and do something else. Blair and Bush both seemed very surprised when Iraq didn't turn overnight into a nice democracy post-Saddam. But there's nothing historically inevitable about democracy and the sad fact is that many cultures seem to prefer some sprt of despotism just because that's what they are used to. That doesn't make them stupid - what a eurocentric idea - just different.

Putin is still fucking scary though.

After two years in Ukraine, I never met a single pro-Russian Ukrainian.

It's about context & perpective, both now and relative to the past.

Not to mention access to freedom of information.

There also isn't a worship of democracy or a moral imperative that democracy is Good, and anything else is Bad.

Im not saying its right whats going, I'm just as surprised as you emilywrites with it being so obvious and the question is why the west have held back??

MiscellaneousAssort - Not just Russia, you need a strong middle class before you can think about democracy. Many African and Asian countries were at the same level of development at decolonization look at them now.

Kinda worrying Cameron wasn't invited to any of the chats.

Kinda worrying Cameron wasn't invited to any of the chats

Would it have made any difference? The other two leaders went off to Moscow to beg Putin to stop (they had to go to him of course, he wasn't going anywhere), and at the very time they were talking he was still sending more arms and men into Ukraine. It just makes them foolish and weak.

Unfortunately there is nothing whatever to be done to stop Putin, short of an East-West war. And that won't happen, I hope.

Sallyingforth In the past the UK used to project some sort of strength (which we are lead to believe Putin takes heed of) is kinda humbling that we are now third fiddle.

Yes it is, Dad.

Putin is (generally speaking) loved so much in Russia because the culture is different. I remember seeing a documentary about Russia once and the presenter was asking Russians about Stalin. The unanimous opinion was that he was a great leader, despite sending millions to the gulag. I think they have different expectations of their leaders, and after the Yeltsin years they are quite happy with Putin.
The situation in Ukraine really scares me. There is a real danger it could escalate. Ultimately the eastern, indiginous Russian, part of the country will end up in Russia IMO. I can't see any other country aiding the Ukrainians with troops, and the Russian army is bigger than the Ukrainian one. A lot of the heavy industry and hi tech industry is in this area of the country, so the partition will damage the economy of the rest of Ukraine.