Russian President Putin Is Still Very Popular In Russia

Alexei Druzhinin/Reuters

Putin's Popularity Is Much Stronger Than the Ruble -- Adam Chandler, The Atlantic

There's an old Russian proverb that goes, "The economy is a good servant, but a bad master." Apparently, the saying doesn't apply to Vladimir Putin. The Russian ruble is currently in the midst of an historic landslide; Russia's central bank jacked interest rates up nearly seven points on Tuesday to counter the currency's two-day, 20-percent fall. And yet today also brought news that the Russian president had emerged from a public-opinion poll as the country's "Man of the Year"—for the fifteenth straight year.

The Kremlin-touted survey—conducted by the Russian polling group Public Opinion Foundation on December 7 among 1,500 respondents across 43 Russian regions—found that 68 percent of Russians placed Putin in first place on a list of national politicians and public figures who deserved the title "man of the year," Russia's Interfax news agency reported. In 2013, only 32 percent of Russians gave him the nod.

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My Comment: As I had mentioned in a post this fall/summer .... the Ukraine civil war, sanctions, isolation from the foreign community .... all of these events have resulted in Russians "circling the wagons". As for Putin, he has positioned himself to be in the center of this "circling of the wagons" .... and has (so far) been immune himself from criticism. Will this last? Probably .... but if this continues for a year or more .... even Russians who have a long history of being patient will start to "grumble", and after that .... who knows what may unfold.