[Acrylic-bob]

The Russians have a strange relationship with those who rule them. Quite masochistically they like to be dominated by men who are not afraid to flex their muscles and the more literally they can do this, the more popular they are. One of the reasons that the late Tsar failed was because he was too nice. The revolution would never have happened in his fathers reign, he would have hanged the lot of them, evidence or not. Russians respect that sort of decisiveness. This is the reason that Medvedev was not re-elected. This is the reason for Putin's ridiculous macho posing, but, as long as he has his physical health, he will succeed. Mental health in Russian rulers has never been much of a drawback.