Putin on the ropes: Vladimir Putin wants to remain in power for another 12 years, but are Russians hungry for real democracy?

• Author: Barry, Ellen
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

The week after parliamentary elections that many said were riddled with fraud, tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets of Moscow. They shouted, "Putin is a thief!" and "Russia without Putin!" and forced the Kremlin to confront a level of public discontent that hasn't been seen in Russia since the 1990s.

The December protests--broadcast live to the Web by young demonstrators holding iPads over their heads--came the week after Vladimir Pufin's political party, United Russia, suffered major losses in the parliamentary elections. There were widespread allegations--and videos on YouTube--of ballot boxes being stuffed. In fact, United Russia's losses might have been even worse, if not for the fraud.

It was a stunning rebuke for Putin, who has led Russia for the last 12 years, first as president and then as prime minister. The protest came two months after Putin announced that lie would seek the presidency once again in elections in March. A victory could mean another 12 years in power, giving him a tenure approaching that of Joseph Stalin, the brutal Communist dictator who ruled the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1952.

Putin has said that Russia needs him because the nation is entering a period of dangerous volatility that requires a steady hand. But fewer and fewer Russians seem to be buying that argument.

"Something has changed," says Fiona Hill of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "The biggest problem is that people have gotten fed up."

Autocratic Rule

Russia has a long history of autocratic rule, so Western-style democracy isn't necessarily a natural fit. Powerful czars ruled the nation until the Russian Revolution in 1917. For most of the 20th century, the Soviet Union was a Communist dictatorship--and America's primary adversary during the Cold War.

The years that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union--and the introduction of democracy to Russia--were marked by a sense of chaos and economic upheaval. When Putin--a former head of the KGB, the Soviet spy agency--took over in 1999, most Russians were relieved to have a strong leader.

Once in charge, President Putin began consolidating power in the executive branch. In 2004, he eliminated elections for key governors and mayors; now those positions are filled with appointees loyal to the Kremlin. He also tightened controls over the press in an effort to eliminate dissent. (A few journalists who've criticized the government have been mysteriously beaten or killed.)

But...