The nature of the criticism is that nothing has changed in Russia.
That Putin=Brezhnev.
If you believe that, you have taken leave of your senses.
No. We're not "friends" with Russia, but Russia and the US have common interests and a big foe: Muslim terrorism. Surely you see that.
Having a common enemy did not make the Soviets and the US friendly when facing the Nazis, it just meant that we shared an enemy. We were enemies before Hitler, and we were enemies after Hitler.
Putin has been making steady moves to roll back any democratic gains of the past ten years since taking office; now he's suspending elections and looking for a way to remain in office beyond what's constitutionally mandated, and without having to be re-elected; totalitarianism is the natural enemy of freedom, and by default, the enemy of America.
The Chechens have never been an enemy of the US, they've always been an enemy of Russia, and thus far, unless I've missed something, I've read about no acts of terrorism against the US, it's people, or its interests anywhere in the world committed by any Chechen.
They are Russia's enemy, not ours, in spite of the Kremlin's best efforts to paint a different picture.