By Katie Stallard, north west Russia
Since his last birthday Vladimir Putin has annexed part of another country, hosted a Winter Olympics, weathered a storm of international criticism, and been kicked out of the G8.
A number of his close friends have been sanctioned, and the economy has stalled.
But the latest opinion poll puts Mr Putin's approval rating at 86%, close to his highest ever as he marks his 62nd birthday.
A fervour of patriotic sentiment, whipped up by state-controlled media, seems to be shielding the president from criticism at home.
But we wanted to find out whether that support extends beyond Moscow, and its gleaming skyscrapers.
By the side of the main road from Moscow to St Petersburg, the concrete suburbs give way to wooden villages in various stages of decay.
We met 75-year-old Alexei Alexeyevich, selling his apples by the side of the road.
He stands out here all day, making about £1.50 a bucket to supplement his pension, but he loves Vladimir Putin.
"He is a great man, he's a real man!" he said, giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up.
"He gets everything done, he says what he thinks, and he does us good."
Further north, the landscape is beautiful, but life is tough.
A few kilometres off the main road, we passed the ruins of the long-abandoned collective farm that would once have been the main employer here.
Tatyana Smirnova, 53, has been told she will lose her job as a cleaner at the local community centre next month - there just aren't enough people to keep it open.
She said she would sell honey from her beehives. Her husband has multiple sclerosis, so where else would they go?
But still, she thinks Mr Putin is doing a good job.
"I think there is more order under his rule," she said.
"If you look at him, he goes around the country, and goes to other countries as well.
"He improves things everywhere."
When the power and water go off in the village, people here might be angry with the government - particularly the local government - but they don't seem to blame the man at the top.
In the forests of Valdai we found the gleaming golden domes of the Iversky monastery - restored at huge cost, reportedly with help from state-controlled companies.
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Gallery: Vladimir Putin - Man Of Action
Vladimir Putin has earned a reputation as something of an action man. Here in 2013 he is seen shaking hands with a walrus on a visit to the under-construction Primorsky Aquarium.
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Seemingly always keen to be seen with members of the animal kingdom, he was also pictured touching a dolphin during his trip to the new attraction on the Russky Island, in the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
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Here, at a Moscow sports complex in St Petersburg, he shows off his judo skills.
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He joined a group of scientists in the Arctic to help tag endangered polar bears.
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In the Siberian mountains, he rode bare-chested on a horse.
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Mr Putin walks along the Khemchik River in southern Siberia's Tuva region.
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The Russian leader with a big catch from a fishing trip in Siberia ...
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... during which he was also photographed getting familiar with some other wild animals.
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On a trip to Chkalov island, Mr Putin attached a satellite tracking tag to a Beluga whale.
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He has taken to the skies...
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Here, the president rolls in the snow with excitable dogs.
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During a dive to an underwater archaeological site at Phanagoria on the Taman Peninsula, he returned to the surface with a precious artefact - but it later emerged that it had been planted in advance.
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Mr Putin also made a grand entrance on a Harley Davidson at a biker festival in the town of Novorossiysk.
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Mr Putin sits in a car from the Renault Formula One team before test driving it at a racing track in Leningrad Region.
The president is said to have a private residence nearby.
Quite a contrast to the old Soviet housing blocks in the town, and the babushkas selling vegetables and pickles in the bitter cold.
Sixty-seven-year-old Klaudia Mikhailovna's pension is not enough to live, but she's grateful for it and to Mr Putin.
"Under him we started getting our pensions and salaries on time - compared to Yeltsin there is a huge difference," she said.
The people we spoke to were frightened of chaos in Ukraine but they would rather have what they see as the stability of Mr Putin's rule - at pretty much any price.
