I'm curious mark have you ever been to Russia or spoken with Russians?
Frankly there's folks with a lot better idea of what's going on in Russia who know darn well that Putin is the democratically elected choice of the people, and with a 7% growth rate the economy is booming and the average Russian is benefiting greatly.
But seizing control of all energy,media,and bank assets. While supporting Iran,Syria,China, etc(russian supports the worst regimes in the world). Also, they have been talks about him not stepping down or Sergei Ivanov(another hardliner)taking his place. Russia has always been on the wrong side of nearly every major crisis with the west and it still continues to this day. Oh and yes I have been to russia.