Russia’s political system doesn’t fit into a simple definition. It’s an autocracy in which people loyal to the regime can exist comfortably.

Putin’s Regime Won’t End Without an Opposing Vision

Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency represents much more than a setback for the country’s protest movement. It is a major defeat. To understand why, consider the sudden celebrity of Irina Prokhorova, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s older sister.

Thanks to the sheer lack of fresh faces on the political stage, any new figure immediately becomes a sensation by default. Just as a love-starved man might lavish his attentions on the first woman he meets, so those Russians who are sick and tired of Putin are ready to fall for the first hero who comes into sight.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/putin-s-regime-won-t-end-without-an-opposing-vision.html