Transformation of Putin’s Perception in Russian Society (2000-2016)

The paper focuses on changes in public perception of Vladimir Putin as he successively implemented the roles of a President and Prime-Minister. This analysis is based on a long term empirical study that started in 2000 and the last data were acquired in spring 2016. Methodology used in this study permits not only to describe rational elements of his image but also to fix unconscious aspects of his perception. The study gives evidence to the transformations in both personality of a President and in his perception by Russian society that could be attributed to new forms of political communications as well as to new generations that came to politics in recent years. The incredible growth of Putin’s ratings after 2014 is connected not only with his particular decisions (including reunion of Crimea), but with transformation of political values of Russian society, crystallization of a national idea that was unable to be formed during the whole post-Soviet period.