This is true, however, Russia was moving towards a liberal direction all by itself in the 80s and 90s. That positive progress was stopped deliberately by Putin,

This is true, however, Russia was moving towards a liberal direction all by itself in the 80s and 90s. That positive progress was stopped deliberately by Putin, after he rose to power with not a small amount of nefarious actions. You might say that a truly liberal nation would have managed to stop him nevertheless. Could be, but things like this often hang by very thin threads. E.g. as we know, the American democracy was very nearly destroyed in the previous presidential elections. It could have very easily gone south.