I would never call what I am doing “support” for the Russian federation. Pointing out basic facts and chronology isn’t “support”.

And I don’t think it is relevant to even talk about this or that power being a “lesser evil”. The russian leadership’s reaction to the events from the 1990s to today have been entirely predictable. The events which led up to this war.

Far from being a cunning schemer looking to revive the Russian empire, Putin is closer to being a cornered rat (and he is a rat) who is forced to make a desperate move at the last minute when all else failed (repeated warning against nato expansion, the failures of the Minsk agreements, warning against Ukrainian militaristisation, trying peace talks which failed again and again, etc).

In fact, Putin is exactly the kind of idealistic Russian liberal that westerners wish would overthrow Putin. He thought that cozying up to the west (he even tried joining nato in the past) and selling his people to them would keep the west placated (and earn the Russian bourgeoise a seat at the table). It took him far too long to realise that the western leadership is not interested whatsoever in peace or equality.

The situation is actually kind of similar as the one in Israel. An entity with a history of belligerence and colonisation gets attacked. Liberals are unable to conceive of historical context and think that the immediate aggressors are some kind of super voldemort evil.