According to the Wall Street Journal, Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in the presidential poll is a sign that Russians long for stability, especially in political terms, like it was in the Soviet era. In return, Russian voters showed their readiness to sacrifice democratic values achieved under Boris Yeltsin.

Indeed, Vladimir Putin won by a landslide, although this is a far cry from the Soviet style voting figures, writes the Suedduetsche Zeitung. As Mr. Putin’s five rivals had no chance to win, voters showed their attitude to the authorities by deciding whether to go to the polls, the German newspaper notes. According to it, the elections were held amid heightened security. In Moscow alone, more than 22,000 policemen and servicemen were deployed. The Suedduetsche Zeitung described Mr. Putin as a “purposeful winner”. Even if the President is pleased with the poll results, he will not show it. Self-control and restraint are in the character of the Russian leader, the newspaper adds. During his first term as President of Russia, he coped with the anarchy of Mr. Yeltsin’s period, using half-authoritarian measures but at the same time not abandoning liberal economic reforms”.

A “victory without honor” is how another German newspaper, Frankfurter Rundschau, describes the Russian presidential elections and the recent parliamentary elections. In its opinion, these elections were neither free nor fair due to biased election coverage and unequal opportunities of election candidates. In particular, the newspaper criticizes the use of material incentives in order to win votes. Perhaps, Vladimir Putin is a popular president, but he cannot be seen as the legitimate leader of the country after such elections, the Frankfurter Rundschau reports. For its part, the New York Times believes that Vladimir Putin is never going to become a Western-style, liberal-democratic politician, no matter how much we wish it. He is a quintessential Russian leader, with very traditional aspirations and interests, and until the West gets used to it, he will continue to be a tantalizing source of frustration and disappointment, the newspaper says.

A reforming liberal leader in Russia is the Holy Grail of Kremlinology, but the search for one is as misguided and hopeless as that for the relic of the Last Supper, the New York Times says. So asking if Mr. Putin is a "reformer" is really the wrong question: in Russia, reformers come from many directions. Even Boris Yeltsin, who in the early 1990's did give real power to pro-Western free-marketeers, ultimately understood that achievement in Russia is judged by the ability to control, consolidate and increase the power of the state. Even today, Russia's politicians more resemble medieval vassals, retainers loyal to a man of power, than leaders of ideological parties, the newspaper concludes.