Well, a strong country needs a strong leader. Russia has Putin :D

If people don't like him, they can elect someone else...

As for nuclear weapons, unfortunately there are ~10 countries (off the top of my head, usa, uk, france, india, china, pakistan, n.korea, russia - and a few NATO countries hosting them) with nuclear weapons and apparently all their presidents can "push the button". In that sense, Putin is no different than Obama or ...Kim.