I don't have understanding. I think being a dick to strangers on the internet who weren't dickish first shows a severe lack of character.

You might have heard of Google, yes? I guess being a condescending douche bag on Medium takes too much time to do your own easy-as-shit research, but here you go.

https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19960715,00.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-09-mn-22423-story.html

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/us-rigging-russia-election-cia-struggles/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/06/14/yelt-j14.html

Russian average life expectancy has increased by about 8 years since Putin came to power. There isn't really a better single metric on whether thing are getting better or worse in a country.

Putin's domestic approval rating is currently at 69% and has ranged between about 60-88% historically.

So your (or my) opinion about how well Russia is doing doesn't mean much compared to how actual Russians feel about their country.

Bye now.