What was George Washington's advice on leading by example not the bayonet? Oh, but he's just another dead old white guy, why listen to him? If a culture is not ready for democracy, dropping it on top of them isn't going to change them. Before you pull out Germany and Japan as an example of success, note that both were republican systems before they were hijacked by fascist parties (aka our modern day democrats). Places like Iraq have never known a self imposed republican system (only Lebanon of the 22 arab nations was a republic and coincidently it was also 51% Christian then) and so, I fully believe that once we leave, it will collapse.
As for the assertion that Iraq and other Arab nations have never known any form of republican or democratic system, then how does Putin expect it to work in Russia? Or is he acknowledging that democracy is going to (or already has) fail in Russia. Or are you trying to say that Russian had some form of republican or democratic form of government prior to the 90's? Because all I am aware of is centuries of Czarist absolute rule followed by seven decades of communist dictatorships.