You've been told everything, and long ago: no Putin, no Russia. It's not just that the State, for example, is Him, like Louis XIV, but rather the entire Country, along with all its Lands, Waters, Riches, History, and its long-suffering People. Those who have not yet equated Putin with the country must do so immediately—or get out of our country. Putin has somehow ceased to be a president for the people and has become an undeniable tsar. And tsars, at times, get mixed up with their kingdoms in the popular consciousness. For the people, Putin is no longer a physical person, not some Vladimir Vladimirovich of flesh and blood, born to his mother in the most ordinary human way on a dreary October day in the distant year of '52, but something else, transcendental and semi-divine. There's nothing alarming in the fact that we know little about his past and present; we don't strive to find out what ails him or how his personal life is going. We don't want to remember that he is indeed a physical person who occupied a leading position in our state and fell in love with that position with all his soul. He is no longer quite a man; he is a symbol of Russia and its spirit, not of his mother's flesh and not of his father's, but of the entire people at once. And when he opens his mouth, he speaks not from himself, but from all of us, and for each of us. And so we agree with every word he says, and so we fervently support him in everything, and the rating of our adoration for him keeps breaking new records.

Meanwhile, we should not forget that, although at times it is very difficult to remember, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is not the position he occupies, not a symbol, and, let's be honest, not quite God, but still, forgive me, a physical person.

And this physical person has a rather specific biography, not universal for most Russian citizens. Some details of his biography he sometimes shares with us: about the cornered rat, for example, or the street fights in Leningrad. Others, related to what he had to do by duty in the KGB or in Sobchak's mayoralty, he keeps to himself. But there is no doubt—he is a very special person, this Vladimir Vladimirovich. His complexes and his vices are not necessarily like yours. And his dreams and his goals are certainly very different from yours. His life unfolded differently than yours, believe me. To begin with, you were not suddenly appointed president of a great world power when you were already pondering, having lived more than half of your life, what you would do in retirement.

You cannot understand Putin's soul, and he cannot understand yours, despite the reports about it laid on his desk every morning by FSB and FSO officers. Although he himself probably believes that he has long since grasped all the secrets of your soul, and VTsIOM convinces him of this in unison with the FSO.

To his credit, he does not lock himself in an ivory tower but travels tirelessly across the country, learning it inside and out, having seen every ordinary person in it, and every extraordinary one, knowing everything about everyone, and can remind you if necessary. He has embraced our vast Russia, and has become akin to it over so many years, and surely does not see himself without it, nor it without him, no matter what he might declare out of etiquette before each election. After all, when someone declared that Putin is Russia, Putin did not object.

And yet, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is not the Russian Federation and not the Russian people, but a specific physical person. Who, through long, grueling work, has drawn all the reins of control over this Federation and this people to himself. And who, as a result, increasingly confuses himself with the aforementioned Federation and the aforementioned people.

For example, I can't shake the feeling that everything that has happened to Russia in the last two years—between Russia and Ukraine, and especially between Russia and the West—happened because one specific person extrapolated his specific relationships with other people and the resulting emotions—say, frustration, say, distrust, say, a sense of rejection—onto the entire 140-million-strong country occupying one-seventh of the landmass. It seems to me, for example, that one specific physical person projects his personal and professional qualities—say, suspicion, say, notions of friendship and betrayal, say, street notions of the essence and methods of conflict resolution—onto the relations between great powers. In summary, I get the impression that Russia got involved in a confrontation with the whole world because one specific person believes he was betrayed.

Here, perhaps, each of us should look inside ourselves and ask this self there: is it a huge problem for Russia that it is not listened to when discussing the fates of Arab dictators, or is it a problem for one specific person? Is Russia humiliated when this specific person is not offered a handshake at summits? Is it Russia that is not offered a handshake—or is it this specific person, and why, in fact, is it not offered? And is it Russia—all of it—that must now be put under arms so that he is offered a handshake again, even if reluctantly?

Was it necessary to transfer thousands (for now) of soldiers and officers, dozens (for now) of assault aircraft and navy ships, to cut social spending again and increase military spending again, to rinse the unfortunate brains of the population, already washed and dried a hundred times, so that one specific physical person feels respected again, or at least feels that he no longer respects those summit participants who do not respect him, because he cleverly forced them to crawl before him on all fours in their expensive suits, forgetting all their loud words and electoral oaths, thereby proving once again the correctness of his ideas about the world, where you cannot corner rats, where every little person has a price at which they can be bought, and in a fight, the main thing is to strike first?

Although neither Barack Obama, nor François Hollande, nor Angela Merkel, I am sure, fought on the streets of Leningrad, recruited informants for the KGB, or did something completely different in the nineties, nine out of ten Russians agree with Putin's notions. So says VTsIOM.

And VTsIOM also says this: nine out of ten of us do not want to ask ourselves questions or do not even realize that it is possible. Nine out of ten of us confuse Putin and Russia just as Putin himself confuses Putin and Russia. Nine out of ten of us are ready to answer for Putin, since Putin answers for them.

And the remaining ten percent, as has already been noted, can get out of our country (for now).