&gt; Putin loves to push the story that without him Russia will go back to the bad old days of &quot;democracy and capitalism&quot; of the 90s, and that his way is the only way forward. The whole thing is awful similar to what was argued in Germany in 30s btw.<p>I&#x27;m definitely not arguing in support of Putin here - what I&#x27;m saying is two things:<p>a) the popular support of Putin is understandable in the face of recent history.<p>b) Quality of life in Russia today is well below what it was in the 1980&#x27;s (ask any of the 99%).<p>Other than that it might as well be one type of state sponsored propaganda replaced by another.