I wondered this earlier. Apparently the Russian Natzi thing doesn’t really have a strong factual basis. I actually saw a lecture held by George Washington University referencing this topic before the conflict. The author giving the talk dispelled a lot of the myths and Fabrications about so called Russian fascism. I think her basic point was that while there are pockets of fascist ideologues in Russia (just like almost anywhere) given its history it’s really not widespread. Watching the talk I got the impression that no one in room including the author was a pro Putin ideologue. The author had simply studied the topic at length and determined that it wasn’t really a thing. https://youtu.be/bltcIvJgRaE
Her book is called: Is Russia Fascist? (Cornell University Press)
Peter Turchin points out that most major overhauls of society are due to an over production of elites. The idea that there aren’t elites that support the cause of socialism is ahistorical. Vladimir Lenin was born into an upper middle class family after all.