Only if you ignore the spectacular resurgence of nationalism, revanchism, and 'make Russia great again' rhetoric that has completely embedded itself in the cult

Only if you ignore the spectacular resurgence of nationalism, revanchism, and 'make Russia great again' rhetoric that has completely embedded itself in the culture in the past twenty years. Of course it was driven top-down, but I don't see how that has any bearing on anything. The US didn't invade Iraq because there was some kind of grassroots fear of it in particular, and the English didn't get an empire spanning half the world because some blokes down at the local thought it was a swell idea.