Russian election becomes a Putin popularity contest

They already sing his praises in heavy metal and hip-hop songs, plaster his face on T-shirts, peddle his framed portrait from corner kiosks. Now, Russians will troop to the polls to vote in a one-man popularity contest staged around the figure of their beloved president, Vladimir V. Putin.

Today’s parliamentary elections didn’t start out as an approval poll for Putin. But the race for seats in the Duma became a sideshow when the president’s many loyalists ordered the nation to treat the election as a “referendum on Putin.”

In a move dredged from the history books, Russia has constructed a neo-Soviet cult of personality around the increasingly strident, aggressive figure of Putin. The election has gotten swept up in the king-making, analysts say, promising Putin a popular mandate to shift his rule of Russia into a new and as yet unclear era.

“It’s a vote for a concrete person, for a regime and for the power structure that’s been created,” said Boris Dubin, head of the Levada Center polling agency’s social-political department. “It’s not a dress rehearsal. It’s not the end of a new period. It’s the first night of this new regime.”

Strictly speaking, Putin, 55, should be in the twilight of his political career. He’s a second-term president with no constitutional right to run for a third consecutive term. But with the Kremlin constantly reminding Russians that their destiny hinges on Putin’s longevity, it seems clear that the president isn’t about to slip quietly out of power.

But nobody knows which job title Putin will take next; the president’s designs on power probably are the most debated issue in Moscow. Popular guesses include prime minister (with a weak president who could be easily outshone by Putin), some sort of latter-day czarist “national leader,” or ruling party strongman in the mold of Stalin.

Others predict that Putin will use the popular mandate provided by a landslide vote for his United Russia party to justify amending the constitution, making it possible for him to run for president again.

Putin has repeatedly denied any plans to cling to the presidency, and has vowed to safeguard the constitution.

But many Russians seem exhilarated by the possibility of a third term, and unmoved by the constitution.

“This constitution was written specifically to support [the late former President Boris N.] Yeltsin, and many people refer to it as a bloody constitution,” said Alexander Prokhanov, a nationalist-leaning writer who has called upon Putin to serve a third term in office. “None of the Russian people will go and die for this Yeltsin constitution if it’s violated or abandoned.”

Powerful figure

From a distance, Putin’s popularity may seem baffling. But among his people, analysts say, he’s struck all the right chords: After the empty supermarkets, political blood feuds and bank collapses of the 1990s, he’s given Russians a sense of stability. Leaving behind the shame of the failed Soviet Union and Yeltsin’s drunken antics, he’s made it clear that Russia is once again a strong, powerful nation -- free from debt, rich in oil and not beholden to the international community.

Under Putin, Russia has increased pensions, made highly publicized swipes against corruption and, thanks to a global oil boom, presided over an era of unprecedented Russian wealth.

Politics is perception, of course, which is easily mastered given that Russia is all but devoid of independent media. Even people who complain about Russia’s many lingering woes -- impoverished elderly and veterans, poor infrastructure, massive corruption -- don’t blame Putin for the troubles but his underlings.

“Russia has always been a country that supports personified power,” said Lilia Shevtsova, senior associate at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “Can you imagine? People do support the president, but they think his government is a piece of junk. They put Putin above the corruption.”

It certainly looks that way in Moscow these days. Skyscrapers all over town sport three- and four-story banners screaming Putin’s name. Every day, it seems, another Russian luminary vows fealty to Putin.

Russia and its people need Putin to remain president after 2008, Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of the parliament, said last month. “The constitution is not a gift from heaven,” he said, dismissing concerns of undermining the laws of the state. “It was written by those who fired on their own people from tanks.”

‘The glory of Putin’

Pro-Kremlin youth groups shout his name in the streets and set upon his enemies. There’s also For Putin, a headline-grabbing group that suddenly coalesced last month to beg the president not to abandon his people.

In a recent meeting with reporters in Moscow, For Putin’s representatives described themselves as an organized wave 30 million strong -- but also depicted themselves as a pack of mavericks who dared to speak truth to power.

“We represent people who think along the same lines,” said Pavel Astakhov, a celebrated lawyer and TV personality who founded For Putin with other noted Russians.

“People who are tired of being afraid. People who had a feeling wake up inside of themselves that they need to start serving their civic duty.”

At his side, Natalia Agarova, head of the agricultural workers trade union, chimed in.

“If people have pride in their country, then they should recognize that the cornerstone was laid by Putin,” she said.

Last month, For Putin commandeered a sports stadium and threw a combination political rally and rock concert with the sole purpose of praising, as the massive banners proclaimed “the glory of Putin.” The president himself appeared as keynote speaker.

Teens in bluejeans milled around, jostled for a better view and snapped photographs with their cellphones. Putin’s face was emblazoned on their T-shirts and on the pins that held their red scarves. Fresh-faced young girls with big, excited eyes poked Putin flags into their ponytails. They pushed against one another and whispered in bubble-gum breath.

A rock song boomed from massive speakers: “Out in the open fields is the Grad system,” the refrain ran, referring to a Soviet multiple-launch rocket system. “Putin is behind us, and Stalingrad.” The teenagers bopped up and down in time. When old military marches came on, their eyes glazed over.

“Russia should be a democratic country. But what does that mean, ‘democracy?’ ” asked the announcer. “This is 100% democracy.”

Four young, lithe singers, two in white hot pants, took the stage. Pumping their bodies suggestively as the lights flashed and the smoke machine cranked, they crooned: “A guy like Putin, I can respect. A guy like Putin, for Russia.”

The speakers began with Mikhail Kalashnikov, revered inventor of the AK-47. Then Putin’s German teacher from his school days in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. A movie star, a wrestler, a figure skater, a TV talk show host. Prominent military leaders and politicians. One after the next, they stepped up to lavish praise on Putin, to warn the audience that to go off Putin’s path would spell disaster for the motherland.

Then the announcer called his name, stirring his hand in the air to encourage thundering applause: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin! Finally, the president came striding through the crowd and jauntily took the stage. Looking down into the faces of his admirers, he smiled enigmatically while the audience screamed and squealed.

megan.stack@latimes.com