Russia’s presidential election

Moscow doesn’t believe in tears

Vladimir Putin returns to preside over a country whose people have grown increasingly mistrustful of him

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Readers' comments


Domas Ignatavicius

I like @jubus comment. Russia need strong leader and I don't see such among the opposition ranks. In the streets fighting people who sow different life, see the wold and education, it's youth voice, but there are minority. Don't forget that Putin is the 2nd president in Russia.

What frightening me more is harsh Putin tone. Gorbachev and Yeltsin drives Russian forward through cold war, economic crisis, but Putin coming back to the Iron Curtain. US plan to reset relationship with Russia seems not work so well.


Like most native Russians- although having a Germans passport and being proud off both passports sand being different to the basically snooty native English monolingual speaking world being a multilingual I am backing Mr.Putin like most Russians because he is the only man who can free from French and British slavery and lead the two big countries to a better future.
Germany has been exploited now by Britain, France and the rest of Europe more than over 60 years worse as the colonies of slaves in the 18th century.

Germany has to find its friends now because the last 60 years they nothing had but insidious and hateful enemies.
Germany is surround by nations which are bursting of hatred and hostility against Germany and the Germans.
Never before the British have ben that much successful in history with their campaígns of hatred and hostility against Germany.

Putin will be the saviour of German self-respect and dignity which has been denied over centuries by the British and French over man centuries until this day.

The whole of Germany can only be grateful to Russia because Rusisa is one of the very countries in the world which is respecting Germany as a real nation and Germans as human beings ilk all other people in the world.
In Britain each child as soon as theyego to school learn that Germans never have been human beings but only inferior beasts and in France and the rest of Europe it is definitively the very same what children have been told over centuries and what they will get taught the same next series of centuries.:)

Good luck creating Europe on these well made made bias, perfect stereotypes and well supported prejudices.
In Russia I can tell you we do not have them and therefore we in Russia are some centuries ahead of you.
And I do not fear that you ever will be able following us.
You love your bias and stereotypes and so you better should foster and enforce them as you were doing over centuries.:)
The future of Europe will be Russian/German and Polish.
Definitively it will be no longer Anglo/French.
Your time is over.
You wil nop longer bully the rest of Europe around just as it comes up to your mind.

Didomyk in reply to Germanambassador

"The future of Europe will be Russian/German..." :)

Are you kidding ? What, another Hitler/Stalin Pact ?
Or Frau Merkel / Vlad Putin pact ?

It can happen but only provided Putin will resign and turn state powers to Ksenia Sobchak, his glamorous goddaughter, widely seen as Russia's answer to Paris Hilton. Apparently on Putin's orders Ksenia has become the target of Kremlin's smear campaign for joining an anti-government movement. Her fans are upset.

Read more about Russia's glamour-socialite Ksenia Sobchak here:

Germanambassador in reply to Didomyk

The future of Europe will definitively not be Russian/German.
Germany and Russia only will move closer and leave the rest of Europe alone.
France or Britain can carry on the leadership about the rest of Europe as they have been dominating Europe the last centuries.
Germany and Russia will have to go their own way alone without the rest of Europe.
Finally the two underdogs of nations have no other choice but an alliance.
Both countries have an extremely bad reputation and both nations have been discriminated by the rest of European countries.


Most Russians voted for President Putin: Fact !
In a democracy that makes him the clear winner.
The same cannot be said for David Cameron.
University is free in Russia, this is not so in the UK.
Russian people have a public railway, UK does not.
Russia has secure borders, UK does not.
The truth is WE all need Putin.
Putin is stability and safety.

Didomyk in reply to The REAL UK is OK

You said "The truth is WE all need Putin."

Before you pack your suitcases and move to Russia to enjoy their public railways and 'secure borders' take a few days to observe comfortable lives of thousands of Russians who manage rather well in their Londongrad apartments and British suburban estates.

It certainly looks like all these Russian patriots in the UK, as well as thousands of their fellow patriots living in France, Swiss Alps, Italian Riviera, Cyprus and even in Israel, have decided they don't need Putin.

Looks like you are an exception.


I am totally agree with a guy said that Russia need a ironhanded government. Russia is a big country, not only the military, but also the space of territory. As far as I can see that majority Russian support Mr Putin, which is the guy who can save the country.

I think that dear the economist just say the negative side of the countries which their authorities do not like, such as some Middle East countries, China, Russia, Cuba, DPRK. Some times I should say that this is an objective media, however, on the other hand, anything has two sides.


Its worth reading what some leading German dailies said about Putin's elections and the Russian opposition. It's not the NYTimes or the WSJ, - it was a conservative daily 'Die Welt' that wrote:

"With (Putin's victory) the protest movement has reached a new phase. The demonstrators now know that those who want to change Russia need patience. To avoid allowing Putin's extended czardom from becoming lost time for Russia, the opposition must try to rebuild the country from the bottom up. (…) Only widening the civic spirit and engagement shown in recent months can lead Russia out of a dead end. But the opposition should also use the time to install more youthful leadership."

"At the beginning of his leadership, Putin stabilized the country ... But this has since been exhausted. Stability has turned into despotism. … The Putin model has also reached its limits. Thus the czar in the Kremlin will have to take care, lest his managed democracy collapse as quickly as the Soviet Union. It failed because of torpor -- and because it was broke."

A centrist daily 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' wrote:

"For Putin, it is no longer about victory or defeat. The new (old) president must now find a way to include the opposition and win them back for the country -- an opposition that has filled the streets with hundreds of thousands of protesters since last December. Such a project appears to be almost impossible following the verbal assaults made in the heat of the campaign. But Putin has to try, because his and Russia's future depends on it."

"Those who have taken to the streets since December … are young, well-educated and worldly. They are not just angry due to widespread disregard of abstract democratic principles. Rather, each day they realize anew that there is no room for them in Russia. Young scientists, who don't want to become part of the corrupt apparatus in universities. Young businesspeople, who not only expect to be extorted out of part of their profits, but also out of their entire company."

"Small steps are necessary for political rapprochement to succeed. Putin must first tone down his rhetoric: During the campaign he referred to the demonstrators as a band of apes and as traitors. Hardly a foundation for mutual trust... Putin's most difficult challenge, however, will be sharing power..."

Jerry Chieh Kao

As for the student of authoritarian politics, one would dub Russia as a"competitive authoritarian regime" in which incumbents(such as Putin) used democratic facade to disguise the authoritarian rule. The process, practice, and result of the election in Russia are definitely a typical story to elaborate the abstract concept into a concrete scenario. Putin employed numerous methods to tilt the playing field in favor of himself, such as election fraud, coercive repression, and so forth.

From a comparative perspective, other competitive authoritarian regimes that had been democratized took advantage of international forces, especially from U.S and European Union, to undermine the strength and capacity of autocrats as Taiwan and Mexico to name a few. Therefore, in this point, U.S. needs to wield its very influence to help Russian liberalize their states.


'Moscow doesn’t believe in tears' - sense of this catch phrase is quite different from what the author thinks about. It is from a person who never opened a history hanbook. As usual, the Economist presented extremely superficial article on important matter.


The Economist totally glides over the inconvenient fact that the League of Voters observers were concentrated in Moscow, where the results are naturally lowest. Even Dmitry Oreshkin, the head of the project, is forced to admit this even if he does do a lot of weaseling about in the process: “Most likely, our sample isn’t entirely adequate.” This is a detail that CARDINALLY changes the picture.





As reported in Russian media, private businesses and individuals pulled their money out of Russia last month, reflecting unease about the country's political outlook. Net capital outflow from Russia reached about $17 billion in January, the highest since 2009, according to Russia’s Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach. The latest acceleration in capital outflow has been triggered by Russian companies that seek to protect themselves from political risk following the presidential elections.

The latest estimates by Russia's Economic Development Ministry state that about $17 billion was taken out of the Russian economy just last month. Last month’s capital flight was the country’s largest since January 2009, when $24.3 billion left Russia amid the global economic turmoil. In 2011, net capital outflows totaled $84 billion, accelerating toward the end of the year.

Let's wait and see what Putin will do to reverse the trend.


Sorry to disapoint you but the results of the elections do not show any mistrust , as you suggest. On the contrary.....


Congratulations Tsar Putin! Your paranoid personality and inferiority complex made sure that only those candidates you could control were allowed to run against you and you still resorted to falsifications and ballot stuffing - you Genius Homo Sovieticus Putin, Tsar of All the Russias! General Secretary of the Empire! King Sovok!
All the monies you and your friends made as leaders, the mansions, the villas since 2000 - they are all still safe, Oh Heavenly Ruler! You all get to keep all those traffic lanes for yourselves in your luxurious cars with sirens screaming! You can continue to hound any independent press and don't be too shy on killing and beating up journalists which seems to be a hobby of yours Comrade Chekist Putin.
Just think, Oh Holy Tsar, of all the fun you can still have in your little KGB laboratories with polonium and dioxin and other poisons! A dream come true for the Tsar of All Botoxdom! Head Comrade of Nashi, Molodaya Gvardiya, and Stal. Blame all that is wrong in Russia on the West just as your North Korean friend Kim Jong-un does. That tactic works really well on the feeble-minded.
And you magnificent bastard: you even got 107% of the votes in some regions this election. That's even better than Stalin's miserable 99% ! Oh, that poor Stalin is nothing compared to you, Vladimir Vladimirovich.


Putin's main opponent was, according to your article, a business tycoon. There is no reason to believe that a 'rich man' (a probably very rich man) who has profited from Russia's 'privatisation' over the past decades would be any more or less corrupt than Putin. Indeed, it is quite probable that a 'business tycoon' (when finally in power) would be even more liberal (in the literal sense of supporting neo-liberal and market-force, liberal economics) than Putin. Putin has, at least, managed to claw back some state control and stop his country being savaged (or stripped bare) by the jackals of international hedge fund capitalism, who (through lack of regulation and the ear of ministers from Washington to London) so successfully hold Western countries to ransom - or force them to ruin. Putin has won and that means Russia is not an open market with its assets for sale as it was briefly under Yeltsin. Maybe bad for those speculators amongst your readers - and, indeed, for the Muscovite elite, who were very prominent in demonstrations - but probably good for the average Russian.

blake123 in reply to mirrorimage

The billionaire whom you mention who ran against Putin, his name is Prokhorov, was only allowed to run in the elections after Putin allowed it. He, like all the other dufus' who ran against Putin (Zhirinovsky, Zyuganov) was only allowed to run so some steam could be let off and people could think there was a democratic choice.
The whole idea of this billionaire running was originally hatched by Putin's erstwhile political technologist Vladislav Surkov. Go look up Surkov.
Any other person who tried to run, like Yabloko's Yavlinsky (who would not win) or Nemstov was refused entry into the race so scared was little KGB corporal Putin. Navalny wouldn't run because he already knew Putin would win as Putin did himself in 2008.
The only choice the Russian people had in the elections was the choice Putin gave them and he still engaged in falsifications. 107% for Putin in some areas!
And as for speculators and jackals - Putin is the biggest of them all with some 50 mansions and reputedly billions. And Putin has no problem with oligarchs, only those oligarchs who entered into the political arena. Oligarchs like Abramovitch who didn't are fine in Putin's book.
You should see how Putin's siloviki friends live like. Not even in New York or London do you have separate lanes on roads where the upper class - Putin and his cronies and favourites - get to speed down at top speed past all the little people. These guys even kill people on roads such is their lack of care and in Putin's Russia, where the courts are subservient to the Kremlin, they are not even held accountable for their car accidents.

George Custer

Mr Putin's tear was one of a victorius beauty queen. In this latter's case, it shows shyness and restraint. The fact that Mr Putin is neither (remember when he said that a specific mass-medium had poured diarrhoea on him?) means simply that this election was better choreographed than the others, at all of its levels, including the highermost one.

Russia deserves democracy and human rights as any other country, because only these would lead to free and happy citizens, at ease and at at peace with their fellow countrymen. This is a universally applicable principle, as true in Russia as everywhere else in the world, with no exception.

To be sure, allegations of electoral fraud is against this principle.


Way too bad. Opposition is so weak, and they are doing nothing in order to attract people on a regular basis. People joined them just since the situation was desperate as hell. I m not saying the government is better, but the opposition obviously lack political experience and what's more important-common sense. Hope, time will change it.


My reply to SEMETRIA
Dear Madame
I do not contest your saying.I am fully aware of Russian Political evolution pre and post PERESTROICA periods.I am also aware of Mr Medvedev efforts and how they ended.Allow me only to disagree with your saying that there is a greater pallet of views in Russia than in America.....There is certainly a pallet of different and liberal views in Russia which however can not reach the true aim of political freedom.TRUE freedom of speech TRUE freedom of electing .Even Mr Gorbatchev repeatedly criticized the way the actual regime is misconducting the Russian political life

semetria in reply to dr-sxps2903

Dear dr-sxps2903,

The basis of my remark was the following. In America, a country where the word "socialist" is considered an insult, it is my honest opinion that the choice between the current candidates is rather narrow both in terms of quantity (two) and political content ( They seem to have more disagreements about abortion than about anything else. Such candidates as Zyuganov or Zhirinosky will never ever have any chance to run. There are no leftist media that I know to have any substantial influence.

In my comment to your post I asked you to explain what you mean by political freedom. Not to criticize your response, but now we end up with even less tangible notions of "TRUE freedom of speech" and "TRUE freedom of electing".

Do you consider it true freedom of speech when a journalist on TV can treat Putin with awful epithets that I shall retain myself from reproducing, and those who vote for him - of slaves and Untermenschen? When another journalist, sighing that Putin cannot be beaten in a fair election, suggests to liquidate 40-50 million out of his stubborn electorate? When media can organize a veritable harassment of renowned musicians, writers, actors and moviemakers, who took Putin's side? When the staff of some newspapers in Russia consists mostly of foreign nationals? When students at Irkutsk University are taught how to separate Siberia from Russia?

Do you consider it true freedom of election when even foreign organizations can financially support and manage political movements in Russia? When the activists that they support publicly threaten Putin with the "Tunisian scenario" if he does not leave? When famous opposition representatives suggest to transfer control over Russia to international organizations and/or separate the country into several pieces?

If not, I will be impatient to hear from you because I am very intrigued :-)

dr-sxps2903 in reply to semetria

First of all I am not American but European but world politics and economy are one of my main interests.The sense of socialism as of the creation of the USA is not within the belief of the average American.It is rather linked with regimes like the ones of Hitler,Stalin etc which to my opinion is not correct.Socialism as such is a social approach like liberalism and every free man is free to vote for either the one or the other.Socialism is not fascism
Freedom of speech Madame includes abuse of words and behaviour as this happens in every Country.Freedom of election means that people are totally free to elect the leader they like,without any manipulation of voters approach.and there have been manipulations of the public under various forms and subdue promises.
The Press internationally is free to express its view.If you do not like either the paper or the TV
you do not buy or listen.Nobody oblige you to read or listen.The time of the Isvetzia is not any longer actual.
Your claim about the activists approach is part of the freedom of speech.Up to the average citizen to accept or reject their saying.
What actually happens in Russia,always to my opinion,it is a wind of change from an autocratic regime.A latin proverb says:Ex nihilo nihil which means you do not get anything out of nothing or
Vox populi vox Dei which means the people's voice is the voice of God

dr-sxps2903 in reply to semetria

I did reply few minutes agoMadam
In America as well as in any Country Politicians and Press are FREE to say what the want right or wrong clever or stupid noble or vulgar as there is no censorship official or hidden.It is up to the public/voters to vote whom they like best or whom they prefer.It is a simple matter of appreciation adding of intelligence too.Last or not least there is a free contest between candidates the number of which is not limited for being elected as Presidents.There again it is the people of all Stares who choose whom they like or dislike and who finally is chosen
You again tackle the question of how the word socialist is interpreted in the States.I already replied to this point but would gladly add that it is not an insult but simply a basic difference in how the country will be ruled:liberal or with socialist guidlines.Last but not least I would add that very often non liberal regimes call them socialists while they are communists.There is an enormous difference between the two. I am all in favor of socialism which among other offers freedom of speech and against Marxism as it has been interpreted instaured and applied.


Putin's presidential inauguration date has been officially set for May 7th. That's two months away !

Oh, Why such a long delay ?

Here are my few guesses:
a) the ceremony, to be performed in the largest of the many Kremlin's halls, is expected to resemble a coronation; the throne, the crown, the jewels, etc. need to be brough up to the 21st cent. standards. Given expected presence of hundreds of foreign guests, the latest brands of security monitoring systems must be installed.

b) should the ceremony be performed in the Red Square, it requires refurbishing of the Lenin's tomb, extending a platform used by Stalin, Krusgchev, Brezhnev & Co., adding an elevator, a bullet-proof glass and a helicopter pad in the event a quick evacuation becomes necessary.

c) a longer advance notice is required to make sure the Royal Elite from all around the world, as well as a great majority of Presidents of the most important states will attend. Arrangements for the Presidential Dinner and Ball require that advance notice must be given for all the Royals, First Ladies and Royal Escorts to have their new dresses designed and their jewels selected.

All that, plus writing speaches, etc. takes time. You cannot rush things. It's a unique lifetime event. It must be perfect.

dr-sxps2903 in reply to Didomyk

My Reply to DIDOMYK
You do not grant to a Country full freedom with celebrations like the ones of the Czardom......
You grant freedom with pre and after election speeches granting FREEDOM in the full sense of the word.

lecra in reply to Didomyk

Don't ask me stupid meaningless questions.

You should ask yourself why you think it is alright for the US president to be inaugurated 2 1/2 months after being elected, but for the Russian president, 2 months is a "long delay".

Didomyk in reply to lecra

What's the matter, is your diaper wet again ?
Have you lost your milk bottle ?
You should have been transferred long ago to a childcare for underdeveloped infants !


I think that Russia's regime is approaching its end,perhaps not tomorrow but soon.The citizens of Russia woke up and it is irreversible



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