Choice between prosperity and democracy

Tyumen: Like countless Russian cities, Tyumen is dominated by an imperious statue of Lenin and grim Soviet-era buildings. But rather than praising the latest five-year plan, its public address system now urges locals to buy Jimmy Choo handbags in the new mall around the corner and offers cut-price Caribbean cruises.

In a nearby sushi bar, Irina Babintseva leafed through a menu that listed both calories and prices for its fashion-conscious clientele. Babintseva was facing a dilemma - unable to decide whether she should spend her afternoon shopping or visiting her manicurist. In between thoughts, Babintseva found the time to reflect on political matters. With an election due today, she had resolved to vote for Vladimir Putin.

"I like Putin," she said. "I love him as a man - his behaviour, his appearance. He is the kind of man a man should be. I'm not interested in politics, but my husband tells me that Putin is largely the reason we are so much better off than we used to be."

As a parliamentary election, today's vote is theoretically not about Putin. Although he is a candidate for the ruling United Russia party, it is most unlikely that the president will ever sit in the country's Duma.

In reality though, the election is about nothing other than Putin, who has transformed the vote into a referendum on whether he should stay in power - perhaps in perpetuity - beyond his official retirement date set by the constitution, next Spring. Through today's vote, Putin is essentially offering the Russian people a deal - to choose prosperity and stability in place of democracy.

Whether consciously or otherwise, the overwhelming majority of Russians are happy to sign on.

Opinion polls show that the president enjoys an approval rating of more than 70 per cent.

Looking at the smart apartment blocks springing up all over Tyumen - a city in western Siberia - it's not hard to see why Russians seem so enthusiastic.

After a decade of uncertainty, violence and chaos under Boris Yeltsin, the country is in the midst of an energy-fuelled boom unparalleled in Russia's history.

Unlike in the 1990s, it is not just a handful of oligarchs that have grown richer. A genuine, though small, middle class has been born.

But while the president is undoubtedly popular, he is more tolerated than loved. In remote villages and in semi-autonomous republics that resent the Kremlin's growing interference, he is even distrusted. Many Russians fear for the future and believe rising inflation could cause a repeat of the catastrophic crash of 1998, when Russia defaulted on its debt repayments.

"But we can't change horses midstream," said Sergei, a sales assistant in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. "A change in leadership could mean we go back to the 1990s. Anyway, who else is there to choose?"