We give Putin a lot of crap on this site. But he’s also the person requiring that high school students read “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, which is fictional (but very accurate and realistic) story of life in the gulag. If this book were required in US schools, OWS simply wouldn’t exist, it’s that good.
Russia needs to get its religion - it’s post-Christian society has been a disaster, starting with Communism, then the break up of their empire, then the collapse of their population. It’s a good move for them.
{It’s a good move for them}
So it is a bad move for us? We surely are proceeding down the same path that they did, why would you expect a different result?