Yes don’t throw baby out with the bathwater. The book its reviewing is the focus here and Kovalev loves his country and gave a lot to it. Many Russians critical of the current state of their country write from a place of patriot’s pain.
Ok, the thing is few people Russia under the age of 50 care what people who were in positions of power in the 90’s, when the government was far, far more corrupt and murderous than Putin’s government, have to say about anything. All of those people are permanently tainted in the minds of the young. No movement to reform Russia with people like Andrei Kovalev involved will get any traction. However well meaning this guy is, him and the other 80’s era liberals have no following among the people.
The opposition to Putin today is lead by younger people like Alexander Navalny who have no connections to the Soviet system or the disastrous Yeltsin admin. Strangely, the English language media never talks about the opposition to Putin that exists today, they keep wheeling out these old guys who have no supporters and who were themselves often complicit in massive corruption as if they are relevant.