Putin has certain style. He is clearly an intelligent man and he is actually a cool guy. However, each passing year Russia has to spend not having developed actual democracy and rule of law is extremely costly to its citizenry. Not a single autocrat anywhere, ever has been in it for the country. The cold hard fact is that survival and maintaining power is their primary concern.
The so-called Western Democracy is not that different, really. It's not at random that's called the Illusion of the Opposites.
There is a pretty large difference in degree.
Consider the fact that the Sochi Winter Olympics cost $50 billion whereas the Vancouver Winter Olympics cost $6.4 billion. The median income is about ten times higher in Canada than in Russia.
That vast difference was corruption money for the elite. Corruption in Russia is pervasive and on a completely different scale than in the West, particularly in Northern Europe.