Why would we not criticize Putin? He's a reactionary capitalist. Our critique of Putin isn't that he's some supernatural evil like liberal analysis often circles back to, but instead based on his actual, material position. Pushing back on liberal analysis doesn't mean Putin is "our guy" or anything of the sort. First and foremost, we oppose the imperialist system headed by the US, and NATO which exists to protect it.

Any critical support for Russia extends to their right to self-determination from NATO encirclement, and their opposition to western imperialism, not to their reactionary, bourgeois society nor Putin at the top. The dissolution of the Soviet Union was a tremendous human tragedy, one that directly led to the current war today.