I wouldn’t know a word of Russian except in 2003 I was deployed to Uzbekistan during OIF-1. The Uzbeks still spoke Russian after decades of Soviet rule & in working with them I found it much easier to learn some Russian rather than try to speak their Turkic language.
FWIW, the souvenir shop on base offered Stalin era posters along with Uzbek cultural items. The older Uzbeks told me horror stories about life under communism while the young people waxed nostalgic about Stalin & being part of the greater USSR. Strange.
I know a couple of Russian girls the same age as me (24) and they HATE Communism and everything associated with it.
But then you have my own German Jewish Grandmother, who escaped the Nazi's in the 40's and has acquired a considerable amount of wealth over the years.
She Would do ANYTHING for the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
If I were a German Jew who could remember the 1930's under Hitler, I would stay far away from any party that had "Socialist" in it.
But she would stay on board the Titanic if the S.D.P told her to do so.
I truly don't understand it.