Along with its restraints on liberty and its dramatic increase in the power of the Kremlin bureaucracy, Putin has overseen the rise of a Russian middle class that has become increasingly similar to Western middle classes. There has been no “return” to Soviet or pre-revolutionary times, despite the regime’s attempts to appropriate the symbols of Czarist Russia.
人们应当对普京政权予以公道。普京统治下，除了限制自由以及克里姆林宫官僚权力急剧扩大外，俄国的中产阶级崛起，日益类似于西方的中产阶级。尽管该政权试图没收沙皇俄国的象征物，但是，还是无法“回归”苏联或者革命前的时代。 叶利钦时代莫斯科市中心站满的妓女现在已经消失，而且为了平常的散步而打扮得花枝招展已经过时。但是普京政权依然要比任何先前的时代都要更像叶利钦时代。