I said STALINISM not Marxism-Leninism. PUTIN is a neo-STALINIST even if not commmunist.
Stalin was an absolute tyrant and mass murderer. Putin is a benevolent autocrat and under him there’s no mass terror or purges.
Stalin decimated the Soviet elite. Under Putin, the Russian elite is secure.
To compare the two rulers is misleading, though they ran/run highly personalist regimes.