From the perspective of understanding Putin's relative popularity as a leader, I feel you're cherry-picking a bit and also applying the wrong standards (Russian conditions vs those in other nations, as opposed to conditions under Putin vs conditions under his immediate predecessors or hypothetical alternatives).
Basically under Putin average quality of life has improved a lot based on individual purchasing power and access to basic goods. This goes some way to explain his popularity, it's not rocket science.
Putin also emerged as leader out of an era during which the Russian state was at the mercy of rapacious foreign capital and public goods were being ripped out of public hands, the memory of that remains keen, and his melancholic appeals to Soviet nostalgia work in his favour.
And to repeat, I think Putin's a total repressive shithead. He's ghastly. There are even worse elements in the Russian political fabric, some of the constituencies of which Putinism has neutralised or absorbed, for example the likes of Vladimir Zhirinovsky.Â
My take is things probably get worse from here in terms of freedom for both Russia and other examples of state capitalism like China, where Xi Jinping has just made himself benevolent dictator for life. But the struggle for economic domination with the US and EU is unrelenting and will drive that repression as much as any domestic force.Â
