BARELY 24 and still a student, Maria Sergeyeva seems an unlikely minister in the making. But since a gushing speech praising Russia’s leaders at a recent pro-Kremlin rally, she has become an internet sensation as the pin-up of the country’s fervently patriotic youth movement. It may be the first step towards the fulfilment of her political ambitions.

In an emotional and at times muddled speech, Sergeyeva told a large crowd that she knew “for certain” Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, and Dmitry Medvedev, who succeeded him as president last May, would protect her from the world financial crisis.

“Together we will win!” she cried.

Her nationalistic speech five weeks ago attracted praise and mockery in equal measure from bloggers on the internet, the only truly free forum of political debate left in Russia.

Such was the volume of online traffic that the moderator of the country’s largest blog was forced to ban any further posts about the budding politician, who in one web photograph can be seen posing on a beach in a pink bikini.

“Frankly, I was quite surprised by the reaction,” Sergeyeva said as she sipped coffee in a long black dress and high boots last week at a Moscow cafe close to the offices of Young Guard, the pro-Putin youth group that propelled her to fame.

“People are scared of the crisis and I obviously hit a chord. My message was simple: we are in the right hands and we’ll come out of this stronger if we stay positive.

“Putin is very focused and strong-willed. He turned Russia round. With Medvedev they make a great team.”

In her speech Sergeyeva, who in another show of patriotism wears only Russian-made clothes, defended the country’s beleaguered car industry. She was subsequently derided when pictures of her were published at the wheel of a Japanese 4x4. The car belonged to a friend, she said, and she was merely posing for the camera.

Last week she maintained that she dreams of buying a Russian-made Volga, because in Soviet times it was the car favoured by state bureaucrats and patriots - “our James Bond’s Aston Martin”.

Sergeyeva passionately rejected criticism that Putin is an authoritarian leader who has clamped down on democracy and she accused the West, in particular the United States, of plotting to weaken Russia.

A philosophy student with a working-class background, she also blames Washington for provoking a dispute between Ukraine and Russia that resulted in supplies of gas to Europe being cut earlier this year.

“I was brought up to be a patriot from day one,” said Sergeyeva, drawing on a slim cigarette. “My love for Russia came with my mother’s milk. I loved listening to my grandparents’ heroic tales from the war. Putin has given us stability and economic growth. It’s good that he’s hardline and tough. That’s what Russia needs. America, of course, wants us to be weak.”

She is an ardent supporter of the ruling United Russia party and harbours ambitions to become an MP and eventually a minister. “People in the West say we are not democratic but that’s not true. Russia is a democracy and we have a free press,” she said, contradicting evidence of a steady growth in Kremlin media control during Putin’s eight years as president.

She has also spoken strongly against illegal immigration. At a rally last year she held up a cheap chequered bag, associated with illegal market traders, and called on immigrants to “go home”. With similar passion she has called for corrupt state bureaucrats to be jailed and helped to set up a hotline for people to denounce officials who take bribes.

The ranks of young Russians who share her conservative views are growing. The Kremlin sponsors several youth groups to spread patriotic sentiment. Hard hit by the country’s economic problems, the government is becoming worried by the risk of social unrest. The encouragement of patriotic political activism is seen as a crucial counter-measure.

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