Interesting article. I visited Russia about two years ago, and one of the interesting things that people told me is the reason they liked Putin was that he had brought order to a country that, with the collapse of its government, had become completely out of control.
I don’t think he was interested in reinstalling the Soviet system, and I don’t think he believes Communism is the answer. But, reading various reports, it seems as if there has been a revival of Party people, and since Putin has probably been weakened by the Trump-Russia stupidity in the US, he may not be able to resist the nostalgia among bureaucrats for the Party.
Bad times, and I think one of the things the Dems hate about Putin was that he actually didn’t want to extend Communism but wanted to move to a free (but not criminal) economy and a sort of “ordinary” (non-Party) political system. The Dems want all of the bad things back.
The average Russian still greatly admires Reagan, because they know he said the truth about the Soviet Union.
That being said, I believe the average Russian is not particularly a fan of our kind of Democratic system, and I will be the first to say, that our system isn’t for everyone. They seem to prefer having a strong hand running things in The Kremlin, that’s how they are conditioned to think, going all the way back to the days of Ivan the Terrible.
It doesn't mean Russians will be mean to Americans (on the contrary as I'm sure you witnessed) -- but historically, they do have genuine envy and resentment with how the world turned out and have trouble taking the blame.
They blame America and the West not just for the 1990s, but even for Stalin's crimes. Look at the quote from the article:
"In the last 27 years, Russia has failed to discuss an extremely important topic, which is that totalitarian regimes consider the use violence not just a tool, but as an end in itself.
According to the official Russian line, violence was perpetrated by unnamed “dark forces” acting under Western influence, or else it simply happened “by itself,” with nobody to blame.
It's really sad because it's this type of thinking they feel gives them license to sabotage other neighboring former Soviet countries who may want to take a direction different from the Kremlin line.
Because naturally, by resenting America -- you also resent the values America stands for: freedom, rule of law, dignity of the individual, human rights -- and in their efforts to undermine the image of America, the Russian people have undermined their own opportunity to adopt some of those principles for themselves.
On top of that, by not facing up to their past or repenting, they have only given free rein and housing for the same demons to continue to operate and dredge up the same old realities that led the people to the brink of self-annihilation in the first place.
As Gulag historian Anne Applebaum points out, "Like a Pandora's box, the past lies in wait for the next generation."