I’ve never bought into the accusation that communists uncritically support Russia. It’s a bit more nuanced. They still recognise that Russia is capitalist and that the events that happened after the fall of the USSR were incredibly bad, such as the selling off of state assets creating a capitalist oligarchy. I have seen these views expressed by communists.

Personally though, I think some communists need to be more willing to put forward criticisms of the Russian state for the purpose of demonstrating their commitment to socialism. To me there’s an issue with the messaging, leading to a common perception that communists are fully and uncritically supportive of Putin.