In 2012, the name Vladimir Putin carries a number of connotations. This is a man accused of corruption and of preventing free speech, a man who in March of this year passed a bill outlawing 'gay propaganda' in Saint Petersburg, and, most recently, a man whose government imprisoned the punk group Pussy Riot after they performed a protest song in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

The Western media portrays Russia in a state of unrest. On the September 15, Moscow saw the 'March of Millions', a protest in which thousands of Russians joined together to voice their opposition to Putin's government, while Russia's top Twitter hashtag on the day was “Welcome to the year '3'," a reference to Stalin's purges. So who would vote for such a monster? Currently on my year abroad in the Kaluga region not far from Moscow, I have had the opportunity to speak with a man who is unashamed to say that he has always voted Putin. This isn't the type of man you see in the Western press, marching through Red Square calling for Putin's removal from power – on the contrary, this is one of the Russians who make up the majority, one of the people behind the chaos. 

Serge is 37 years old and has voted for Putin in every election. “Putin is not terrible,” says Serge. “He is very pragmatic and a very smart guy.” I ask him why he is pro-Putin, “this is the power that rules the country now – why not support it?” he says. “If you take into account the state of the ordinary people I think that life is getting better . . . 100%”. This may be the case for people like him, but what about minority groups? Aren't gay people in Saint Petersburg currently being repressed by the ban on 'gay propaganda'? “In Soviet times it was a crime and you could be in prison for homosexuality,” he points out. Indeed this may be true, but doesn't this new law signal a regression, a return to a more Soviet way of thinking? “We have more serious problems that need to be solved”.

Serge is certainly right about that. One such problem is epitomised by the imprisonment of Pussy Riot, which has been widely condemned by the Western media, as well as by notable celebrities Björk, Madonna and Sir Paul McCartney among others. Many have speculated that the two year prison sentence given to three members of the punk collective signals a new wave of censorship by the Russian government, reminiscent of the Stalinist era. Serge is one of the many Russians who feels indifferent about the trio's plight. According to a survey published on the Russian news website NEWSru, only 6% of Russians sympathise with the incarcerated women. “If a country has a law – you should act according to the law,” says Serge. I ask him if he thinks the women deserve to be imprisoned to which he replies that they should be “punished in some way”. However, he reiterates that he has no strong feelings about the case either way. Serge believes that now is not the time for an uprising, orchestrated by Pussy Riot or anyone else. “This country is not about revolution,” he says. “Our history shows that revolution always leads to disorder, difficulties, civil war and so on. So I am against revolutions.”

Eliza is from the UK but has made frequent trips to Russia since 1988 as part of her work with Ecologia, a charity for children. “What's really important to the Russian people right now is stability,” she tells me. “It's in contrast to the experience during Perestroika in the 80s and 90s, when it was absolute freedom and so unpredictable. People lost their livelihoods and their belief in themselves.” It’s now that I begin to understand exactly why Serge is in favour of a government headed by Putin. “We don't really like the government but we expect that another one can be worse,” he muses, before finishing with an old Russian proverb: “Never search for the best at the price of the existing good.”

What Putin is offering Russia is not freedom of speech, nor equality and justice. What he is offering, however, is far more important to many Russian citizens – stability. In a country which has been ravaged by revolution, stability is just what many people desperately crave. “I don't think people in the West can understand what it's like to be in a country where there is absolutely no law at all,” says Eliza. It goes without saying that Putin's government is far from perfect, but be under no illusion – for millions of Russians like Serge, it is exactly what they want.