You should tell that to Victoria Nuland then. The way these people see it, there’s no difference. They hate what they call “Russia”, no matter who rules it or what name it has.

Russia’s second biggest party is their communist party. Calcified remains of the Union exist to this day in the for of state owned assets and industries as well as a potent social safety and wellbeing net. Their continued friendship with China, even if just a pragmatic alliance against Western hegemony for now, ensures a steady exposure to and normalization of socialist values. The leftward potential of Russia is potent–they have only been “not socialist” for 30 years and the rampant liberalization of the 90s has slowed. Precedent is a powerful force multiplier. The younger generation of Russians are more hipster and Western and liberal in their spirit which will take a toll on future socialist endeavors but the final tally is that Russia is much more likely to be socialist much faster than most major countries across the planet.

Even if there was no internal potential for reestablishing the USSR–which there is–the fact remains that pragmatically we absolutely should support Russia. They provide weapons, training, soldiers, and a major trade partner to socialist, anti-imperialist, and imperialized countries craving independence all over Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and beyond. They singlehandedly have been a major thorn in the side of the United States Empire and their denial of imperial targets has triggered the Empire’s final decline. In the war in Ukraine, they singlehandedly drained decades worth of weapons, vehicles, money, and fascist soldiers from the entire NATO coalition’s stockpile. As a result this has emboldened vulnerable countries even more; there will be many more Nigers over the next few years, and because they smugly underestimated Russia and lost everything due to their hubris. Russia has taken the brunt of punishment from the U.S. so that the rest of the world may be a step closer to peace and prosperity, and so that ultimately global socialism will be actualized.

We can criticize Putin and his “oligarchs” (why are only Russian capitalists called “oligarchs” when by sheer circumstance they are not as gaudy nor powerful as their Western counterparts?) for their past of looting the country or the present push against LGBT (unfortunately causing the influx of young Westernized hipsters as a reactive force), but we absolutely can not tolerate such statements as “Russia is not something we should EVER support.” People in the most poor and imperialized countries across the world wave Russian flags even more than they wave Chinese ones! It is for good reason, many good reasons. Humanity, particularly the poor and those interested in a socialist future, owe them everything.