The term has been used in various contexts, from portraying Russia as a corrupt and murderous regime where the line between security forces and organized crime is blurred, to a military industrial oil and gas concern[1][2][3] that is ready to swat away criticism at home, squash troublesome neighbours, and sacrifice personal freedoms in the name of a strong centralised state.
[4] Professor of International Affairs, Nina L. Khrushcheva, defines Putin-land as, a Gogol-like, "country of illusions and imagination, in which perceptions are more important than facts, where officials are corrupt and people are oppressed because they all live in a dream of empire," while, in fact, "individual needs are neglected, the state's needs are overstated, and everyone is condemned to a life of cheating and stealing, consoling themselves that, while there is no justice, they are at least part of a great country.
"[5] The term was used by Anna Politkovskaya in an interview held 18 months before her death, she said in relation to the murders of 15 investigative journalists: "It's the same old story, nobody who tells the truth in Putinland is safe.
[8] Nina L. Khrushcheva, a Russian American professor of media and culture, wrote in the International Herald Tribune: "Uniforms are in and patriotic youth organizations such as Nashi (Ours), successor to the Soviet-era Pioneers, are on the march.
"[5] British journalist and author Roger Boyes, who is the Berlin correspondent for British newspaper The Times covering Germany, noted that "even the Germans have come to realise that Holy Russia has become PutinLand, ready to swat away criticism at home, squash troublesome neighbours and sacrifice personal freedoms in the name of a strong centralised state",[9] a view published in his column in German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.