It still greatly amuses me that so much of the former “Western/capitalist/NATO” world actually believed that a century of communist rule and the de facto Russian Empire that was/is the “former” Soviet Union just literally up and disappeared in one day.
And virtually none of the Western media has EVER openly questioned the fact that Putin was a hardline Communist Party member, career KGB agent and director. Apparently he just woke up one day and decided that he loved America.
The USSR didn't die; it just changed it's name.
Recommended reading and shockingly prophetic and relevant is Anton Golitsky(?) book from 1993/4 “The Perestroika Deception”.
Russia is an old, dangerous empire and should never be taken lightly.