Putin’s image – personality cult?

According to public opinion surveys conducted by Levada Center, Putin's approval rating was 81% in June 2007, and the highest of any leader in the world.[228] His popularity rose from 31% in August 1999 to 80% in November 1999 and since then it has never fallen below 65%.[229] Observers see Putin's high approval ratings as a consequence of the significant improvements in living standards and Russia's reassertion of itself on the world scene that occurred during his tenure as President.[230][231][232] Most Russians are also deeply disillusioned with the West after all the hardships of 90s,[233][234] and they no longer trust pro-western politicians associated with Yeltsin that were removed from the political scene under Putin's leadership.

Putin was Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2007[, given the title for his "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability".[243] Time said that "TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest. At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse". The choice provoked sarcasm from one of Russia's opposition leaders, Garry Kasparov,[244] who recalled that Adolf Hitler had been Time's Man of the Year in 1938, and an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the magazine's readership.

source: wiki