It looks like it is trying to move in the direction of spiritual freedom. I’ve heard it has laws that enforce a number of things we might view as prudish, but at least that’s a concern about the public morality (the better cure would be a wider outreach and acceptance of Christian faith, which calls for respectful human conduct on account of God).
They have a State Church and have been known to be less than friendly to those outside of it. Even under the USSR, they were “prudish” in many ways on the moral and social front internally, while funding western front organizations to undermine morals and social standards in the west.
So, they’ve changed and yet they haven’t. It’s hard not to at least grudgingly admire Putin, patriot supporting his own people and nation as he is, but that does not mean he’s any friend of our own nation and people.
He isn’t. Where our interests coincide, working together is a positive development. But, slipping back into one of the lunacies of past leftist foreign policy, a blinkered “detente” that sees no evil, would be very foolish.
I’m torn on the matter.