With less than a month until the Russian presidential elections, things are hotting up in the race for the job.
Media outlets in the West are taking every opportunity to condemn and vilify Putin and call him a dictator and crook. Every single British newspaper and TV station tows exactly the same line, so much for free press huh?
Every evening Russian TV shows an impressive but slightly unequal amount of coverage of Putin and the other candidates.
Moscow and many other Russian cities have seen quite a few Pro and Anti Putin rallies recently.
As a foreigner and westerner living in and out of Russia I can only comment on my impression of how life in Russia has changed over the last decade. If you are Russian then your experience and opinion may well be very different to mine.
Having said that though, over the years I’m met and talked to hundreds of people from vastly different walks of life in Russia, ranging from drunken tramps on the street, through ordinary workers up to company directors and the uber-rich. As an outsider I’ve probably talked to a wider range of the public than most Russians.
In general I’ve always been quite a fan of Putin. He seems to me to be a damn good leader, and a much better candidate than any of the others. He didn’t sell off the countries oil wealth, he kept order and didn’t bow to the USA.
For me, one word marks the past decade in Russia. Stability.
The 1990′s brought chaos, instability and economic collapse to Russia.
My own Russian family, like many others, watched their hard earned savings dissolve overnight due to hyperinflation. I’ve heard of many people who continued to go to work for months on end despite not being paid. Some were paid in whatever goods their factory produced, although quite how you eat a machine parts or crystal chandelier I don’t know. The voucher privatisation scheme saw those in power grab everything that they could.
After years like this Russia needed certainty and stability.
The Russian economy has grown vastly over the past decade although most ordinary people haven’t seen much of this wealth. Russia has become an energy superpower, and average salaries have risen from $80 to $640. The rouble has remained fairly steady against the British pound over the last decade at around 50 roubles to the pound.
Media commentators in the West bang on about supposed “democracy” and election fraud, but the average Russian could care less about democracy, they just want to go to work, get paid on time and go home to their family.
The west fears Putin and are doing their best to drum up anti-Putin support.
Many commentators would love to see a weak destabilised Russia ripe for liberating it’s vast oil, gas and mineral resources.
If I was paranoid, (and well, I am), that I might imagine that the recent Arab Spring uprisings and social media revolutions were merely training grounds for the bigger prize – Russia.
Take a look at the other candidates in the presidential race, and who have we got ?
A Communist, a politician from the 1990′s and a couple more stooges planted to even out the opposition vote. Are any of these guys likely to redistribute Russia’s enormous wealth to ordinary people any better than Putin? I doubt it. Your views are most welcome.
