BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Preparations are under way for Sunday's inauguration of acting Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN's Steve Harrigan reports on why one small village far from Moscow will be watching particularly closely.</s>STEVE HARRIGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia's new president says he comes from St. Petersburg, but people in the village of Sagutyevo are convinced otherwise. Just ask Alexander Putin.</s>ALEXANDER PUTIN, FARMER (through translator): He has the same character as me. When he got on that fighter jet, when he went on the submarine, it was me. We're the same.</s>HARRIGAN: The similarities go beyond physical appearance, says Nina Putina.</s>NINA PUTINA, PENSIONER (through translator): He talks just like we do, just with a bit more culture, although I have no teeth.</s>HARRIGAN: Five-hundred kilometers from the Kremlin, Putins plant radishes. Young Putins play a game of lapta. Old Putins watch the world go by. Putins who fought and died in the war lay underground. There is talk of a presidential visit, but hopes here are modest. The oldest Putin, 91-year-old Vera, would ask her namesake for milk. The youngest, 15-year-old Vladimir Putin, nicknamed "The President," would like the village tractor repaired.</s>VLADIMIR PUTIN, STUDENT (through translator): All of the ones we have in the garage are broken.</s>HARRIGAN: Time doesn't seem to move either in Sagutyevo. Animals and men work together the same way they did in 1830, when villagers say one of four Putin brothers left for St. Petersburg. The job now for the most famous descendent: to rule a nation where people live in different centuries. Steve Harrigan, CNN, Moscow.
Small Village Far From Moscow Will Be Watching President Putin's Inauguration Closely