VLADIMIR PUTIN Soviet-style cult lionizing him as the "father of the nation"

Since he stepped down in May, a Soviet-style cult lionizing him as the "father of the nation" has steadily gathered steam, to the point where many ordinary Russians still regard him as president. Indeed, if an election were to held tomorrow, opinion polls show that Putin would win easily and that his popularity - the result of eight straight years of economic and geopolitical resurgence - has more than weathered his technical demotion.VLADIMIR PUTIN relinquished the Russian presidency six months ago but to watch state TV you could be forgiven for thinking that the former KGB officer remains the master of the Kremlin.Before he gave up the highest office in the land, cloying songs had been penned in his honour, Russian women had professed their undying love for him, and vodka and tinned fish manufacturers had rushed to name their products after him.But his spin-doctors used to try - at least publicly - to keep a lid on excessive tributes in a bid to reinforce his image as a modest "one of us" figure. Now though, Putin, who has since become prime minister, is well placed to stage a stunning political comeback and serve another two presidential terms if he desires. If and when his less experienced successor Dmitry Medvedev steps down, that is.Medvedev, a long-time Putin subordinate, has struggled to emerge from his mentor's shadow and is not, polls show, taken seriously by many ordinary Russians. His decision to send Russian tanks into Georgia in August boosted his image as a strong leader, a quality Russians respect, but was not game changing. Analysts say he has come to power at a difficult time when Russia's booming petro-economy is beginning to be buffeted by the global financial crisis. That, they say, allows Putin to maintain the fiction that previous economic growth was down to his financial genius rather than oil-fuelled serendipity.As the crisis starts to bite, Putin is visibly keeping his distance. The thin-faced former president celebrated his 56th birthday last week, providing an excuse, if one was needed, for more hero-worship. Kremlin-controlled state TV obliged.In a photo opportunity that must have been dreamt up by Russia's equivalent of Alistair Campbell, the former Kremlin strongman invited journalists to his official residence outside Moscow to show off his favourite birthday gift: a female tiger cub.Putin refused to say who had given him the cub, though local media speculated it was probably Chechen president Ramzan Kadyrov, who has his own personal zoo.Earlier in the week, Kadyrov, accused by human rights groups of orchestrating a brutal campaign of disappearances and torture, had paid Putin a very public compliment.

The Chechen capital's main thoroughfare, Victory Avenue, devastated in two fierce wars of independence that pitted Chechens against Russians, was renamed in Putin's honour."As a Chechen and as a Muslim, I'm ready if needed to die for Vladimir Putin," Kadyrov said. "Thanks to this man, we have reached this day when Chechnya is ruled by peace and tranquillity." Giant billboards of Kadyrov and Putin dot Chechnya.If freedom of speech existed in Chechnya, which it doesn't, some Chechens might beg to differ. It was Putin, in 1999, who stepped up Russian hostilities against the independence-minded region, initiating the second Chechen war.Kadyrov, derided by his critics as a Kremlin puppet, owes his position almost entirely to Putin, however, and was one of a number of top officials who tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade Putin to serve a third consecutive presidential term, something that is banned by the Russian constitution.Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, indicated his boss was not thrilled with the tribute, stressing Putin's everyman nature."(Putin) has said that he does not have the right or the opportunity to put pressure on anyone," he said. "But he himself would prefer if this would not happen."If the tigress and the street renaming wasn't enough for his many fans, the cult of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin got an extra boost last week.Dozens of young people, members of the Putin fan club, thronged at a central Moscow bridge to pledge their allegiance. "We have just one leader and we do not need any other," said Igor Boiko, head of the Putin Fan Club. Meanwhile, Putin gave his followers a special treat: a martial arts video in which he is the main character. A black belt in judo in real life, the video/DVD, entitled Let's Learn Judo With Vladimir Putin, showed the diminutive politician throwing much bigger rivals around the room and musing on the philosophical benefits of the sport.It follows obviously staged photo shoots earlier in the year portraying Putin as a macho man, fishing bare-chested, or shooting a tranquilizer dart into a tiger in Russia's far east. Medvedev, by contrast, is rarely pictured in an informal setting and professes to like yoga and surfing the internet - and of course the man who gifted him the job, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.