Lazy History. Putin is not Stalin or Hitler. He has his own post-1991 history
Takes that Putin is Stalin or sometimes Hitler have been quite common in the media and have even been echoed by several more serious commentators. They are wrong which is not to make any excuses for the vicious war he is waging in Ukraine.
A detailed analysis in the Financial Times (12th March) explains exactly what the history of Putin is
https://www.ft.com/content/503fb110-f91e-4bed-b6dc-0d09582dd007?shareType=nongift
He was junior officer in the KGB and had no particular stake or central role in the former USSR. He has made very clear that he is entirely opposed to Lenin’s view of what the USSR was and might become. One might argue he has more in common with Stalin, except that the late dictator was about protecting the USSR, as an entity rather than as a beacon for world socialism. In any case Putin remains opposed.
To suggest that Putin is a fascist again is wide of the mark. It’s difficult to discern for example much of a cult of personality around him. The world has more than enough authoritarian despots to suggest that this doesn’t give them the particular characteristics of fascism or make Putin Hitler.
A third argument is that Putin is trying to recreate the imperial Russia of the Tsars. Again this seems wide of the mark, Putin is not planning to re-create the nineteenth century even if that, were it possible, be slightly preferable to his current activities
As the FT piece makes clear, to understand Putin and Putinism its best to study them and not rely on lazy historical analogies
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