Its exactly BECAUSE the US MSM propaganda hates him so much, over the last 5 years, I made a point of watching Putin and Lavrov’s speeches and commentary.
Putin is absolutely a strong and clear-minded leader. He can speak extemporaneously, completely unscripted in hours-long press conferences. No one edits or controls him, as we see with Biden.
Putin sticks to very common themes - protection of Russia, protection of Russian interests, anti-globalism, the use of post-modern culture as a destructive wedge by the West, promotion of Christianity as an antidote for the evils of Communist rule in Russia. Putin also has a real dislike for Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who he feels destroyed traditional Russian culture and society, for pure leftist power and blind ideology. sound familiar?
Those opposed to him have some general themes also. We know many of those already and hear them constantly.
Either way - anyone looking for truth needs to avoid cartoonish MSM caricatures of him, and Russia.
My highly educated engineer neighbor was born and lived in russia half their life and always says that Putin is not necessarily a good guy but that he is the guy Russia needs to keep it from being looted and stripped bare and that most Russians see it that way.