I believe that is coming from the mentality of russians. The police is not to trust there. So they take the right in their own hands often enough. And criminals are often enough heroes. So they think putin is a strong person that took what he wanted and because of that they like him.
You are unable to digest the truth. So now you have started to slander the Russian citizens? Russians don't have a very short memory. They remember very well what the American puppet Boris Yeltsin has done to them. Putin was the one who kicked out all the criminal oligarchs from Russia, causing heartburn for many of the "pro-democracy" supporters from the United States.