MIKHAIL SOLOVYEV was born on December 31st, 1999. It was a bitter day, even by Siberian standards, with temperatures of -50ºC. Trams and taxis in Novosibirsk stopped working, but his mother made it to hospital and entered the new millennium with a baby boy in her arms. That same day, some 3,400km away in Moscow, Boris Yeltsin sat before a New Year’s tree in the Kremlin and slurred over a fateful speech: “I’m leaving,” he told his countrymen. He deposited Russia in the arms of a new leader, Vladimir Putin.

In the ensuing 18 years, as Mr Putin consolidated his power in Moscow, Mikhail grew into a strapping young man. He is now a proud member of a local military-patriotic club, as well as an environmental activist with a soft spot for endangered birds. He dreams of becoming a signals operator in the Russian army. This weekend, on March 18th, he and his peers will be eligible to vote in a presidential election for the first time. He has yet to decide whom he will support. Regardless of whom he chooses, Mr Putin will win. But even a tsar cannot conquer time.

The potential of those who have known no ruler but Mr Putin came into view in March last year, when thousands of young people across the country answered the call of the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, to protest against high-level corruption. The following week, Kremlin-connected political consultants held a discussion forum in a Moscow bar that captured the mood: “March 26 Protest,” read the invitation, “WTF”. Mr Putin began appearing at more events with fresh-faced supporters to counter Mr Navalny’s appeal. Molodezh—the youth—attained a near-mythical status in Russian political discourse. Who are they? What do they want? How do they see the world?

Seeking answers to these questions, The Economist has interviewed dozens of 18-year-olds across Russia in the months leading up to the election. They are the first of a generation in Russia—call them the Puteens—that has no memory of life before Mr Putin. Some 28m children have been born in Russia since he took power. Their living conditions differ widely. Their views on politics, history, religion, rights, and national identity range across a broad spectrum. But certain trends do emerge.

The Puteens have come of age at a time of unprecedented prosperity for Russia, despite a recent slowdown. GDP per person has risen more than sixfold since Mikhail was born. The youth unemployment rate is relatively low by eastern European standards, at 15%. Today’s young Russians drink less, smoke less, and live longer than those who came before them. Many see opportunities ahead: they have concrete dreams, and a sense that they can be achieved. “I want to become an architect,” declares Alexei Malikov of Murmansk. “And I will become one.”

Though they grew up in Russia, they live much of their life, like their peers elsewhere, online. More than 90% of 18- to 24-year-old Russians log on daily, compared with less than 50% of 40- to 54-year-olds and just 15% of those 55 and older. “From one point in the world, we can reach anywhere else, and that opens unlimited opportunities and unlimited horizons for us,” says Abubakr Azaev of Makhachkala, the capital of the Muslim republic of Dagestan. “I basically know how people live in China, in Japan, in the USA.” They share stories on Instagram and chat on WhatsApp; they dig both Russian rap and Scorpions. Abubakr cannot get enough of Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and Gorillaz, a British band.

The internet unites the human race

This heightened sense of the world beyond their borders seems to make the Puteens more receptive towards it. The dynamic of constant confrontation with the West holds less appeal for them. Russia’s youngest adult cohort is more likely to have positive views of America and the European Union, and less likely to believe that Russia has enemies. (Their peers in the West also view Russia more favourably than older generations do.) They trust information from friends and relatives, and increasingly eschew the aggressive state-controlled news on television. Over 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds get their news online, compared with just 9% of those over 55; more than 90% of over-40s still rely on television. “They try to convince us that Americans all hate us; that Americans think Russia is a place full of evil people, bears on the streets and vodka,” says Lera Zinchenko, an aspiring actress from the Moscow suburbs. “I don’t think they hate us. I follow a few people on Instagram who travel all over the world, and there’s one girl who was in America and said people were super nice to her.”

The combination of relative opportunity and basic openness makes Russia’s youngest voters, on the whole, sanguine about the future—though of course, few of them have yet had to contend with getting jobs or finding a home, let alone bringing up their own families. While the young people who filled Mr Navalny’s protest form a visible and active bloc, they represent a small slice of their generation. Rather than raging for revolution, 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely than any other age cohort to approve of Mr Putin’s performance; more likely to say that the country is heading in the right direction; and when presented with a choice between a Soviet-style political system, the current Russian system and Western-style democracy, are most likely to prefer the current system. A recent study by the Carnegie Moscow Centre found young people the least likely to support far-reaching change in Russia.

This does not make them Kremlin loyalists, so much as realists. For the Puteens, the president is akin to the sun, a constant feature of the environment. Some bask in his bombastic glow; those who find his presence oppressive slap on sunblock or stay inside. Though many would like to see a new star emerge, most see little point in fighting Russia’s current one. “Sure, there are some shortcomings, but things are going pretty well—it could be much worse,” says Mikhail, echoing a common sentiment. After he casts his vote, he will return to thinking about a more pressing predicament. “I have this dilemma,” he offers, “Whether to stay here in Siberia, or move south, somewhere warm, somewhere closer to the sea.”

Photographic project by Davide Monteleone specially commissioned by The Economist

To learn more about the Puteens, visit www.economist.com/Puteens

Correction (March 22nd 2018): Last week we wrote that GDP per person in Russia has risen sixfold since 1999. That calculation reflects the change in current dollar terms, rather than in real rouble terms, which would be the more relevant measure. In those terms, it has nearly doubled. Sorry