Ping.
I'm sure it's hard for an entire country to go from "Father Knows Best" to "Elections" without problems. Sometimes, the people DON"T know best.
From the very small snippet of Putin's speech, that's what I heard him saying.
That's why we have regular, staggered elections of representatives. It keep change from happening too rapidly and with too much emotion. Both of those are problems with Rule by Tyrants.