Vladimir Putin is not a leftist. You may be thinking of the old Soviet Union, a failed communist/socialist nation. Putin was part of its KGB, the equivalent of our CIA, more or less. Vladimir Putin is not a Communist. He is not a Socialist. He is a petty tyrant, more akin to right-wing dictators from history and today than to leftist leaders.
The KGB was the security organ of the USSR. Putin served the USSR, and would not have been a KGB officer were he not an ideologically faithful Communist. "... the equivalent of our CIA, more or less." Ummmmmm, no. The CIA has never run a network of labor-death camps, as has the KGB. Further, the KGB's authority was both external
and internal. The CIA was forbidden internal authority from day 1 of its existence.
... He is a racist. He hates LBGTQI people. He's not fond of Jewish people. In fact, he's mostly fond of himself and power. He likes puppetry, though, (like Kim Il Sung, like the various Easter Bloc puppets he set up).
Gee! Change just one clause and MM is describing Stalin. Unlike Stalin, however, Trump is
not racist,
not antisemitic, and
not sexist (a claim MM forgot in his hate-driven haste). Trump's cabinet choices suffice to refute those Prog narrative-lies.