Their govt is capitalist. Putin mostly sucks. They’re also the only thing standing in the way of the total hegemony of the largest fascist empire the world has ever seen spearheaded by the U.S.

Russia, as “totalitarian” as it may be, does not ban communists from its government and in fact the communist party is very large. It does ban neo-Nazi groups as well as parties calling themselves explicitly fascist. Ukraine, on the other hand, has avowed fascists in positions of power in both the government and the military. They have recently banned all communist parties as well as all leftist parties, ranging from mere anti-war liberals to social-democrats. Anyone bringing awareness to the Nazi problem in Ukraine is summarily arrested. Zelensky himself wants to turn Ukraine into a “new Israel” with ethnic Ukrainians being in charge of an apartheid state where ethnic Russians are second class citizens and armed military police roam the streets and “guard” movie theatres, hospitals, schools, and more.

Russia is currently attempting to liberate ethnic Russians in the Donbass region from an ethnic cleansing campaign that goes back to 2014 and before. Over 14,000 ethnic Russians have had their lives taken by the Ukrainian military and many more have had their homes and livelihoods destroyed. This is the reason Crimea voluntarily voted to join the Russian federation, as did the people in the Donbass. Russia is acknowledging a democratic referendum. Ukraine is continuing its ethnic cleansing policy. It may seem complicated, but there is an obvious answer to the question of which camp is perpetuating imperialism and genocide and which one is finding itself fighting against it.