I have to chuckle. Some Russian FReepers have periodically shown up here to complain that the US did nothing to help them democratize or shake off their capitalist roots. They have also scoffed when I informed them that Putin was slowly taking Russia back to the bad old days of the USSR. Perhaps, today, they see the light.
When the USSR fell, Russians who wanted out from under the communist system could do and did something else. Many, as a result, have become quite wealthy. The rest of Russia spent their time complaining that capitalism was bad and lamenting the Soviet system.
Well, they're getting it back, thanks to Pootie-Poot, and the rest of us are being dragged back into another Cold War. Russia had their shot and blew it. Expect no tears from me.
There is the "reversion to the norm [or mean]" law - it is a somewhat indirect corollary of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Here is a certain type of society, with its own way of life, as it has historically formed over the centuries. And this way of life has its own "historical norm", to which such a society would tend to revert after any perturbations.
Putin is a communist with an image team and a makeover.