Dear Uncle,

We are lucky to have Putin as our Prime Minister here in Russia. Our Russian economy has thrived and
foreign investment has soared. Consumer goods are widely available, and millions of Russians, part of a
growing middle class, are able to afford them. Putin represents stability, a welcome contrast to the
chaos of the first decade after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. He is a great leader and is helping
Russia become democratic. Under Boris Yeltsin, a few tycoons, known as oligarchs, were allowed to
plunder state resources in a period of wild privatization that plunged millions into poverty. Putin
reversed that whole entire process reasserting firm central control over Russian resources. During his
reign, the Russian economy has grown by an average of 7 percent a year, poverty has been halved, and
the average monthly salary of Russians has more than tripled. High global prices for Russias vast oil and
natural gas resources played a big part and role in that success. Anyway, Many Russians give Putin
credit for the fact that they are much better off than they were before. Putin is only 59 and is physically
and mentally fit for this job or role in our government and society. Putin is not an absolute ruler, we,
everyone in Russia, would like him to be our ruler. We like when he is in power. We have more
freedom than before and we do not live in fear all the time. For 350 years this country has been ruled
by powerful czars and the Soviet Union, who did not care about anyone but them selves. Putins
approval rate was a 73 percent as recently as February of 2011. He won the December parliamentary
elections which Putins party won by a land slide. Putin also stated that he would solve the Chechen
problem for good. Also Putin Famously vowed to hunt down separatist leaders ever when they were
taking a crap. Putin was elected president to prosecute a brutal war that killed tens of thousands. He
also tamed the oligarchs. He did this by opening fraud proceedings that left some, like Mikhail
Khodorkovsky, in jail, and drove others, like Boris Berezocsky out of the country. Putin moved against
the oligarchs mainly to secure their wealth too! No one could have beaten Vladimir Putin since he first
took the helm in Russia in 1999. Vladimir Putin has ruled with a modified form of the Soviet Union or
Soviet style authoritarianism that he calls managed democracy. He is just a strong and powerful leader,
but we give him all the power. One Moscow vendor told the Toronto Globe and Mail that Russia needs
a strong leader, it is such a big country with so many different ethnic groups , that it is very difficult to
unite. It requires toughness. And I agree with that statement! Vladimir Putin is a great lead, he
improved the economy by 7 percent each year he ruled and we are no longer in a Soviet Union.

Dear nephew,
Im sorry but you are too young to understand. You are very wrong about this. Vladimir Putin is a
horrible leader. Putin wasnt even fairly elected! Though out relentless propaganda aimed at promoting
a cult of personality. He is slowly turning your so called democracy back in to a Soviet Union and he is
becoming an absolute ruler. Putins 2004 decision to eliminate elections for key regional governors and
city mayors has angered critics including Gorbachev. In 2008 Putin found a way around the law that
prevented him to run again for president and when his second term expired he then handpicked Dmitri
Medvedev as his successor, and he won in a landslide, Medvedev appointed Putin as his Prime Minister.
Putin was only and mainly against the oligarchs just to secure their wealth for himself and his cronies.
They have now consolidated their position to such an extent that Putin is likely to be one of the richest
men in the world. They only way he was elected this term was because of carousel voting in which
loads of voters travel around casting ballots under different names, and in Chechnya, more pro-Putin
votes were counted than there registered voters. But managed democracy relies even more on subtler
manipulations. The economy may have gone up 7 percent every year but thats only because this is the
first time we are trying democracy, any ruler could have done that, also at the same time, the country
has become a lot less free. Putin is even against the president! He said that he was undermining
Russias fledgling democracy by crippling opposition forces. He took away most of your freedoms and I
do not understand how every one in Russia doesnt say anything. It is going to cause another revolution.
There are so many attacks now on Russian journalists, human right activists, and opposition politicians.
These attacks along with the abolition of some local elections and other moves to concentrate power in
the hands of the Kremlin, are all evidence that Russia is becoming an increasingly authoritarian country.
The only reason this man looks good is because for 350 year the country was ruled by strong and
powerful czars, and the Soviet Union. Now it is turning back in to that. Your government is turning into
a brutal communist dictatorship.