I have mixed feelings toward Putin's agenda. Mostly because I can't figure out his moves. Russian expansion? Damn, it's already got almost the largest land area of any other country except maybe China. Not saying they have the most population because clearly Russia has areas that are hardly populated at all. If I was financially able, I'd move to Russia right now, today. Why? More freedom, less bullshit with fake racism and black on white crime and Russians are more civilized. Soviet Union was straight up evil, we all know that. Problem is, that's where we are headed today politically. What I know for sure was that when I was there in 2005 I was well treated, the people were amicable, the police didn't bother me and I enjoyed the food and culture. There were a few things that annoyed me so I'll mention them. I visited one restaurant with my fiance and the food was ok. The following day while walking to her house I needed a restroom so I stopped by and was told I needed to pay a small fee to use their restroom. To me that was bullshit and the receptionist should have just recognized me and let me in. Not a huge deal but it annoyed me. On the other hand, getting government documents was fairly straight forward, simple and quick. Documents were very abbreviated which I think is due to the idea that the government likes to streamline things there to reduce cost. Visiting government offices we mostly dealt with women so you bring a box of chocolates as a bribe. It's standard custom. Sure, you can get stuff done without chocolates but it's better to just bring the chocolate. Proof? Notice how downtown there were entire shops devoted to chocolate sales. I found that amusing. Just don't bring chocolate to the police station to get documents registered. Maybe special tobacco products would work better there. Still, the images of those tanks on the road has me very curious. "Oh Putin, what are you doing?" is my thought.