Hello, I must say that I'm always surprised by the negative picture some westerners (but not all of us of course) have of Vladimir Putin.
Wether you like the person or not, it is a fact he is a very competent stateman and leader. He brought back his country from the ashes of the fall of the USSR, and makes very clever moves on the international diplomatic game, where there is no space for emotions if you wanna keep your spot as a sovereign nation and work for the interests of your people.
While I am not Russian myself and cannot speak about the efficiency of everyday life policies, I believe they are very right to maintain some higher moral values and limit the influence of nefarious groups such as minority rights lobbies, fondamental islamists, and all those who corrupt our cultural inheritance in the West.
I am a nationalist myself, I do love my country and its history, and it angers me that my supposed "leaders" bow down in front of the EU and the republican and democratic system. France doesn't need that crap, it existed long before the corrupted puppet state it as become, and our most competent leaders were authoritarian rulers, not oligarchs. I wish we'd take example on Russian peoples patriotism, and sense of pragmatism.
As Reiner said, it is an absolute shame we still act in a hostile way towards Russia, while we have so much interests and cultural ties in common.