The Daily Telegraph

Putin glorified by TV show as unrest grows over pensions

- By Alec Luhn

A WEEKLY show glorifying Vladimir Putin’s political acumen, physical fitness and love of children has made its debut on Russian state television, raising concerns of a Stalinesqu­e “personalit­y cult”.

The hour-long show, titled Moscow. Kremlin. Putin comes after the president’s popularity took a hit over a plan to raise the pension age.

The first broadcast began with footage of the leader meeting schoolchil­dren and paying respects to a singer who died last week.

“Putin does not just love children, he loves people. He is a very humane human,” a Kremlin spokesman said, echoing

‘Putin does not just love children, he loves people. He is a very humane human’

a famous quote calling Vladimir Lenin the “most humane human”.

The show claimed that Mr Putin had travelled more than 5,000 miles across Russia in the past week and showed the president’s hike in mountainou­s Siberia and details of his daily swimming and weightlift­ing routines.

But the “main topic” of the week, it said, was a televised address in which the president softened the pension reform that has sparked protests. Nearly nine in 10 Russians oppose the plan.

His approval rating dropped 12 per cent after the reform was announced.

In the address, Mr Putin said the retirement age for women would be raised only five years, to 60 rather than the originally planned 63.

The age for men will still go up to 65, however, a year less than their average life expectancy.

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