Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Putin Is Up, But Russians Are Feeling Down

Even with the economy on the mend, protesters have returned to the streets.

April 3, 2017 at 1:30 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

Back to the streets.
Photographer: Nikita Shvetsov/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

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Russia's long recession is officially over: In the fourth quarter of 2016, the country's economy grew 0.3 percent, and growth appears to be continuing. Consumer sentiment is in positive territory for the first time since 2014. The numbers indicate that President Vladimir Putin's Russia is regaining some of its lost economic optimism.

QuickTake Vladimir Putin