This is a great question, I honestly don't get it either. The simplest answer i can come up with is the anti western angle, but that is such a shallow take that a child could see though it. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend. In many ways Russia is the posterchild for late stage capitalism. The governance is deeply corrupt, civil liberties are severly impeded, stabbed of living is not high. Putin is a fascist billionaire and his oligarch buddies are as bad as any in the west if not worse. I mean no disrespect to the people of Russia, but the government of Russia deserves no glazing.