Russia: How Long Can The Fun Last?

In many countries, a leader with the scandal-tarred record of Russian President Vladimir Putin would be long gone. There was his ham-fisted handling of hostage crises in Moscow and the southern town of Beslan, his meddling in elections in Ukraine, and his persecution of former Yukos oil chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Now add to those misadventures the deathbed allegation by former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko that Putin ordered his poisoning.

Yet in Russia, Putin remains a hero. His approval rating stands just shy of 80%, in large part because the economy has flowered during his term in a way that would have seemed unimaginable during the crisis-ridden 1990s. Growth in gross domestic product has averaged 7% per year during that period, while real incomes have climbed at more than 8% annually. Putin "is quite tough both inside and out of Russia, which is needed," says finance student Kim Volodzanin, busy shopping at an outlet of British department store Marks & Spencer in Moscow.