“You showed who the Russian people are, who the Russian working man is,” Mr. Putin told the foreman, Igor R. Kholmanskikh.

They never did beat up any protesters. But thousands of strapping, fur-hat-topped workers from the factory, Uralvagonzavod, were bused to rallies supporting Mr. Putin in his campaign. And in his first decree after his return to the presidency, Mr. Putin named Mr. Kholmanskikh the Kremlin’s representative in the Urals region, the most senior federal position in the district.

Now, as far as many workers at Uralvagonzavod are concerned, all that might as well have occurred in a different country, or lifetime. “I don’t think Uralvagonzavod will vote for Putin again — we saw what that led to,” Mr. Shukhin said. “This is the opinion of a lot of workers, but a lot of them are afraid to say it. We just don’t understand why they are firing people.”

Back then, as oil prices flirted with the $100-a-barrel mark, cash was rolling in and work was plentiful. Mr. Putin, his government sitting on far larger cash reserves than today, was burnishing his image as the savior of factory towns, often arriving at troubled industrial centers in a swirl of television reporters to announce miraculous bailouts.