Russian and not getting what you need? Just ask Putin.
To receive social services, solve a grievance, or even seek compensation for an injury in Russia, people normally work through personal connections or understandings, which is exactly why corruption is so firmly woven into the fabric of Russian life. There are simply no working institutions — impersonal and effective — that can do something better than a bribe can. And if you’ve exhausted all your options or didn’t have many options to begin with, you turn to the top, to the traditional figure of the Tsar-Father to intercede with the wicked authorities — or with wicked fate. Putin’s annual performances as this mystical wand-waver, as crucial as they are to his image and his ratings, only perpetuate the very thing Medvedev is purportedly trying to fight.
