Quelle surprise! Vladimir Putin has cruised to victory in the Russian presidential elections with 76% of the vote on a turnout of 67%. There is no doubt that Putin is genuinely popular with the Russian public (though there is also, by design, no serious political opposition in Russia and state-controlled media overwhelmingly support the incumbent).
The victory comes as Western leaders are (once again) deciding how to respond to alleged Russian interference. This time it’s the British, accusing Russia of deploying a lethal nerve agent in a bid to assassinate a defector. The case has echoes of the 2006 murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Yet not everyone in the UK is so quick to lay the blame at the Kremlin’s door. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to support Prime Minister Theresa May in her condemnation of Russia’s alleged actions. He argues that there is no direct evidence of Russian involvement, and we should withhold judgement until all the facts are in.
What do our readers think? Are they more likely to side with those condemning the Kremlin, or with those urging caution? The latter often argue that recent history appears very different from Russia’s perspective; from Western intervention in Kosovo and Iraq, to the expansion of NATO, to the colour revolutions of the 2000s, they argue that Russia has felt under threat constantly since the 1990s.
We had comments from Elajah and Ingo, for example, arguing that Europe would be better off aligning itself with Moscow than with Washington. Louis argues that Putin is stereotyped as some kind of Bond villain by Western media. Or, for example, take this comment from randomguy2017, posted just after the election results came in:
Good Putin won. US is not king of the world. There needs [to be] balance. US is number 1 threat to world (according to two world polls).
On the other hand, we also had comments like the one from Adrian, arguing that Putin is “fighting against democracy”, or from Duncan arguing that Putin is the “enemy of peace on Earth”. Or, for example, the comment from John arguing that Putin appears to be trying to “reestablish the USSR”.
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He is a strong man, a true president. Not a puppet like French president by Exemple.
Or the Portuguese president. Just to give other exemple
V V Putin Voted the world’s most powerful person four times between 2013 & 2016, Russia’s president has exerted his country’s influence around the world. I’ve got so much respect for him. No leader can equal him on this planet.
A small dictator.
Not small.
Once KGB…always KGB.
Putin is a straight forward psychopath who can’t accept reality.
Does it matter for somebody? :-)
Everyday ocidental média try to make our minds about evil Russia. Wake up people
yeah, you’re absolutely free to go live in russia for a change.
If i had a job there i would go
Dont need job. The state will provide you one. And house. And you will live happy till the end of your life. As long as you do not speak bad things about leadership. Then, you will be run ove a car. In the elevator. Twice. Natural death, they say. You should be more careful. Especially if you like tea… Polonium is a female breeding dog…
@Mircea Say some bad things about your country than you will see how is democracy
Bad things about my country i’ve said a lot. Even protested. Remember the “lights of Bucharest” protest? I’ve been there. And not once. But i’m sick and desgusted with “saloon socialism”. All those Putin fans who never lived in an opressive regime as i lived. Europeans seems has lost antibodies for that. They seem to forget that EU was an atempt to never bring back nazism, isolationism and bad nationalism. My opinion is that it failed. You want to understand what is now in russia? Ask the east europeans about opresive regimes. Ask the old ukrainians about famine. Ask the east germans. Ask the german pow, one of the 50 000 out of 500 000 that returned from siberian gulag. And, in general, ask yourself why from all the nation that the russians “liberated”, and later become “brothers” in the socialist world, you cannot find one who loves russians…
Mircea Zeta I live in a country who as their own problems
@Hugo i know, but i bet you that the presidents critics dont die of polonium…
God, what I would not give to move Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and a couple of other countries next to Russia, at least for 50 years or so…
Then I’d go back and ask them again :)
I’m not Russian, so I can’t have an opinion, I don’t know how is life in Russia with Putin.
As a foreign, my opinion is not quite relevant.
BIG PAPA
Mig’t be the best one.
Europe on “standbay”.
Cynical, cunning, ruthless, Machiavellian, amoral, an embodiment of Russia’s two decades of frustrations and humiliations.
Putin
As a person he is appealing to most normal people, WASPs and etc.
As politician, he has many faces, internal affairs, foreign affairs, those are split into more faces, affairs with immediate neighbours, with Europe, with more remote countries, with the USA, China and etc.
Being Bulgarian, I like him for his qualities as a person and foreign policies, but dislike Kremlin’s influence in our society. So 2:1. Further thinking obliges me to ask a simple question, does Putin solely put up the objectives before the Russian foreign policy. Is it going to change dramatically if he is replaced by another president? Russia will suddenly forget it is armed to the teeth competitor on the global market? Rather not. Russians will always try to sell their goods and protect their interests especially in the immediate vicinity of their borders. As for the Russian internal affairs, we are deprived of objectuve reporting, thus I have no opinion. Also, it is not our business..
One of many dictators
I’d prefer to be friends with Russia and China rather than US and Israel.
( very upset cant copy the picture to my Galery.)
The best
Murderer of children and women. Mr. Clean
His face is the mirror of his soul.
He is a full dictator
I hope he lives long enough to pay for his war crimes!
apparently one of the most well prepared leaders in the world. I know…there aren’t a lot…
today being father’s day…
happy father’s day Mr.Putin
Anyone who supports the genocide of the Kurdish population is a criminal. That doesn’t stand only for Putin
Dectator
He has balls and he is one of the few trying to put an end to unipolar world. He may not be very good in economics terms (I’m not sure about the economic strenght of Russia) but, for sure, he has schooled many Western leaders when it comes to international relations, terrorism and support to so-called “moderate” terrorists. He proved to be much more wise and rational than many politicians considered “great leaders” in the West.
He is a perfect candidate to become a dictator in a country which never had a democratic experience.
Do you think that if the neoliberals were in power in Russia they would be strongly democratic?
ask his own people….if you want the true!
Make him presidente of Europe too…
He is trying, but fascist dictactors in Europe always end up badly. Let him rule in Russia. His imperialism is the biggest threat to world peace now.
You’re confusing with the capitalism…
Master
He is obviously a power mad megalomaniac, maybe Juncker should give him a job in the unelected European Politburo.
Most countries leaders’ serve corporations and the majority of the people suffer. He is no different. Tell us more about the effect of his gold-backed money with China on the Euro, Dollar, sterling and all money backed by nothing. And lets all go green energy in the EU and be done with all oil resource corporations and their lackeys.
Politicians are just business men working in the interests of bigger business men
He has done the right thing for citizens against Corporations.
You mean make them all poor while he and his friends become billionaires ?
Oh yes ?! and 76% out of 68% of potential voters, were they forced to do so? or did they do it for fun? the corporations tried with Yeltsin to sell off Russia, but now it becomes difficult, and they try to force with other systems, but beware, the world is only one.
@Bluto When Putin has executed or imprisoned the opposition who where the Russian people suppose to vote for ?
If so, they should get someone better than him
Navalny?!? Navalny was arrested for unauthorized demonstration in that area. Actually they had given him another area, but he disobeyed. The same thing happens in all the nations of the world, the law is law, Dura Lex Sed Lex my darling :-)
A 41-year-old Russian blogger, he studied at Yale University and then in 2005 founded the Alternative Democracy political group, funded by the American NED (National Endowment for Democracy), which was funded by the United States Congress, as reported on the website of the NGO
In 2013, Navalny was arrested for embezzling half a million dollars, ending up after one day at home. Also in 2013 together with his brother Oleg, he suffered another conviction for fraud and embezzlement. The following year he was again convicted by the court in Moscow for fraud and money laundering.
Nice opposition! A decent shit this Navalny
Does he work for the CIA?
He is authoritarian. He’s also an moldavian,descended from a romanian soldier from Dimitrie Cantemir army that lived at Peter the Great Court.
For fans of dictators, he is one of the best in the world
He is a leader, here back home there are no more, the political cost killed the politicians, of course you can hate or love a leader, but he does things get done, maybe his way, but done, here nothing happens, our politicians just go with the stream.
Megalomaniac and despotic as all the leaders are. Thatcher for example was not so much different.
What you mean with the question or is simple insinuation? better avoid official confusion! He is the best for russian people using unclear questions!
Until the friendship between a Putin and Erdogan will endure strength , we should also expected such a dictator ones.
This friendship need to stop ASAP , otherwhise each country would inevitably be involved; and a future USE will move it further into its goals. I got some replies by someone who live in USA ; everyone I wrote , seems to agree with the same too.
What do you think of Russian president Vladimir Putin?
I bet all the European leaders, including the UK May, wish they were as popular with their own people as Putin obviously is in Russia. And if you read our British papers comments pages when they have some story on Putin, you would believe most British voters wish they had a leader as strong as they see both Putin, as well as, Trump, are.
Don’t believe it, read the Mail online or the Express, go down to the comments at the end of an article and you will see thousands make their feelings known.
Of course, the feelers they have out try to tell us, these good words for Putin are placed their by Putin’s own men. They don’t say that so much about Trump, but, they try to poo poo good remarks on him just as avidly.
These politicos take the cake on trying to persuade the public what it is they really believe. Which of course is the reason they don’t get their voters to give them 70% or 80% backing ever.
What I think of Putin is, he gives the Russian people what they are looking for. And his ballots are no more rigged than they are elsewhere. Take Clinton and her fixing it against her own man Sanders. He would have won the Democratic vote and Presidency if she’d kept her big nose out of it. US males could not vote for her, she nauseated them. But, of course, it had to be Putin at the back of her demise, didn’t it? She pleads she could not have lost unless someone fixed her wagon. She simply cannot absorb the reality of, she fixed her own wagon because she was obnoxious. And those backing her, placed their money on a lame horse.
dangerous
He is the biggest threat to our way of life, democracy, freedom and liberty. Putin’s Russia is attacking the EU and the western world on a daily basis. He is very very dangerous, mostly because he has allies among us, many in Europe (Far right and left) support and are supported by him. He won’t rest untill he has destroyed the EU.
I not a big fan of him. But that’s Putin it mildly
He is by far the most sane leader in the world.
Mafioso-style personality along the lines of Erdogan and Berlusconi who has reshuffled the whole of the Russian state in order to serve his personal interests and bank balance. I don’t think he enjoys the kind of support that your intro implies. Quite the opposite, there is a large number of Russians fleeing the country because of him and the way that he has been running Russia. If he himself thought that he was that popular he would not have imprisoned political opponents.
The comment that you have above by “RandomGuy” is very obviously a Russian troll either paid or an “unpaid volunteer”. Even the name that he is using is the dream of any spy to blend in and give the impression that the views he is expressing are those of the average random person and are views held by the majority/mainstream population. His comment was not even directly answering the question of the debate and he didn’t provide links to the polls he is referring to. He just used the opportunity to post his own propaganda. The polls may even not exist… Poster may even not be a he…
i think that europe has to benefit from the tremendus opportunities that have to offer the partnership with Russia!
I think he has bigger balls than all the MEPs combined! We ned the United state of europe and we need a president (just one president) with the smarts of Putin.
He is a strong leader and he puts his country above all else…something a lot of Europeans wish they had right now
Paul X
And now the truth is slipping out. It looks like Obama and Clinton, colluded with the UK to destroy Trump and Skripal was about to expose it for his accepted return to Russia. CIA with MI6.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZ8A4ZkeMk
Well what a surprise!
He should rule europe
Wouldnt it be assume if Europe
had more people like Gaulle? Who actually cared about Europe, more than the US?
I see people like Karolina read too much tabloid propaganda news, they have a massive phobia. they think Putin will invade Europe “anytime”,
these type of people know next to nothing on Russia.
So watch and read some of Proffesor Stephen Cohen works.
He is professor emeritus of Russian studies at Princeton University and New York University.
Disinformation agents and antiRussian xenophobes will accuse everyone of being kgb spies. I know their techniques and hatred.
Those same people who pretend to be tolerant seem to hate another European country. Strange isnt it?
For those of you who refuse to wake up and acknowledge the truth:
Both Win/gallup Polls and Pewresearch both showed USA is the greatest threat.
Feel free to search them up.
Truth will win. The people will win.
Aw, you reckon you’re a mind reader now…. :-)!
Well, you are wrong… I don’t read tabloids and I am not afraid of Putin. I am just very sorry about what Russia has come to… and since you are not addressing any of the issues I raised in my comment… I have nothing further to say to you.
By the way ,I have read your comments carefully and the errors you’ve been making are compatible with a Slavic language being your native.
As to the other pointless things you keep going on about… You are wasting your time because people over here are not as stupid as you think. You have the wrong image in Russia that Westerners don’t think. Most people do and unless you have arguments and you are capable of a meaningful dialogue.. your pointless blah blah blah does not really impress them. Truth will win and other such bs…
Putin is a leader of a country. Why are you so obsessed with him? There are leaders that are doing horrible crimes against humanity such as the Saudi Arabian king, for example, whose country has nothing to do with democracy and freedom, but all those governments who are cursing Putin, for some reason are best friends with the criminal Salman – ruthless and corrupt medieval dictator, child killer and torturer who has turned a whole country (Yemen) into a giant concentration camp and is now purposefully starving 22 million people there, causing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. I don’t understand this standard of judgement. It is pure hypocrisy. The governments desperately trying to vilify Putin and make him look like some kind of a triple-headed monster are double-faced themselves which means only one thing – liars. Putin is not perfect and Russia is not a perfect democracy, but at the same time Putin is not any more evil than the rest of the world leaders. The media are trying to artificially distort his image beyond recognition to serve the political agendas of their governments. We should not fall for that. People democratically chose Putin and their choice should be respected by all those whining for democracy in Russia, but at the same time wholeheartedly supporting the Saudi Arabian dictator in his murderous and undemocratic activities. Change in Russia has to come from its people and not from outside. When will everyone understand that? Russians have their pride and will not accept to be dictated by other governments, or even by their own (communism is now gone). They will not be subdued, especially by sanctions, punishments or other hostile actions. EU needs to change its approach to respect, rather than threats and hypocrisy and may be then it will have more chance of being heard.