“Did you somehow become convinced Putin reinstated the Soviet Empire?”
The Soviet flag flies on Russian ships.
The Soviet flag is used by Soviet forces in Ukraine.
The hammer and sickle is installed on new government buildings.
Putin brought back the Soviet national anthem.
The Soviet red star is on every military ship and aircraft.
Putin invokes the Russian Empire and the USSR to assert territorial claims.
Putin ‘rehabilitated’ his hero Stalin.
Putin imprisons or kills critics, political opponents, and anyone he dislikes.
Putin threatens nuclear war four or five times a day.
Russia/USSR still has the same friends.
What freedoms there are in Russia get eroded with every passing day.
If Germany did just ONE of these things you’d call them Nazis.
Russia is therefore indistinguishable from the Soviet Union.
No, you forgot one thing. The one thing that makes Putin the anti-Soviet leader.
Putin destroyed the most powerful weapon used by the Soviets against the Russian people:
He allows Russians to practice Christianity.