Well, many are conservative in comparison to the liberalism of the EU. Jobbik, for example, would have been mainstream a couple of decades ago.
In case of Putin, he exploited the legitimate yearning that the Western conservatives have for a leader who is comfortable with religion and traditional values. They were simply fooled. Let us not forget that USSR was in many ways a deeply conservative country; it was a dictatorship of atheist conservatism. Plus, those people know mimicry, so it was easy for Putin to fool us.
Needs to be repeated and it needs to be said that it is no sin to be fooled. We have all been there.
But not all of us!