I don’t think it was ad hominem. I get the impressione that you concur with Putin’s worldview and objectives. If so, shout it out. Putin’s neo-imperialism is dangerous to me, but not everyone agrees.
Putin has never bothered me as much as Obama has, as the king of Saudi Arabia has, nor as much as France has, to be frank.
Believe it or not, there is space between support of Putin and non-support of Putin. It’s called strength and clarity.