There very much are people who miss the USSR. Some are paid for it. Some honestly miss it because... well, I don't want to go into analyzing national mentality

There very much are people who miss the USSR. Some are paid for it. Some honestly miss it because... well, I don't want to go into analyzing national mentality here, but there's a Russian saying that goes "if they are afraid of us, it means that they respect us". And people certainly were afraid of USSR. This perceived loss of respect drives a lot of nostalgia for the USSR.