14Russian - I don't think most people here are "Putinoids", least of all our Russian friends who have to live in a country governed by Putin and have their own eyes to see with...

The man has many faults. However in this situation I think the people in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine are prepared to live with Putin and his faults, rather than continue with the Ukrainian circus of revolutions, corruption, extremists, poverty and language discrimination. Russia offers them some hope and a better chance in most of these respects. You have to be quite dumb to put any trust in the EU as a saviour right now, look at Greece and Romania... How countries end up after the US meddles is visible for all to see in Libya, Syria and Iraq just for starters.

The problems in Russia is a different story, but you can't deny that the quality of life in Russia has improved dramatically under Putin, there hasn't been any major instability, Russians have stopped hating their country and emigrating en masse.

I don't think I would vote for Putin if I was Russian, and I am not sure if it even matters very much what people vote for in Russia.... (based on some allegations here on MR) But even if Putin is a dictator, you can do A LOT worse than somebody who improves living standards, keeps order without being completely tyrannical and leaves people alone do do and say what they like. He's got a lot of work to do on corruption, infrastructure and poverty, but I don't think he is denying that.

And Russia is not the only country where the same party wins every election. It happens in other so called democratic countries too, for example Japan. They too have problems with corruption and criminality.

I also believe that if he REALLY messed up, it's not beyond the Russians to get rid of him.
So let's leave it to them to worry about him.