It’s just like if you meet a Russian who left. I would hope you’d have the nuance to think “oh, they escaped, fantastic for them and I’m so sorry about their country” not “oh they must love Putin”
Unfortunately, as a Polish person, reality proved to me over and over and over again that in this particular scenario, the latter is just most often the case.
Russian people in general have special love for strong men in power. Make no mistake, they somehow even managed to turn Marxist ideas into authoritarianism and it made a massive damage to the international perception of the idea of communism. To this day general populace im my post-communist country, when you say socialism, they see Stalin.
Unfortunately, as a Polish person, reality proved to me over and over and over again that in this particular scenario, the latter is just most often the case.
Russian people in general have special love for strong men in power. Make no mistake, they somehow even managed to turn Marxist ideas into authoritarianism and it made a massive damage to the international perception of the idea of communism. To this day general populace im my post-communist country, when you say socialism, they see Stalin.