RedFox, you made some very good points, I agree with many of them but I think you missing the big picture.
You think that all Russian problems are in a bad ruler - change former KGB officer to somebody else and Russia would be fine. It is very Russian to believe in a good tzar that would come and help
The truth is that many Western countries(especially one) are actively resisting Russian projects to become a strong state and globalization is in a full play at that task.
Whenever Russia tries to make a move in world politics it sees resistance: sanctions against Russia and Russian allies, anti-Russian propaganda, economical and political black-mailing, all these weapons are actively used every day.
At the same time, for the last at least 10 years we see that one country decided that it can use brutal force to get what it wants and uses military almost everywhere on the planet, whenever it feels fit.
And as you were saying:
"Когда «элита» — тупые уголовники ,проводящие раскулачивания и расстрелы, то это называется тирания.
«Уровень свободы» при этом не имеет никакого значения. Если у вас есть то, что нужно бандиту, это завтра будет у него, а вы будете расстреляны как враг народа."
And sadly that country behaves exactly like you described but on a world wide scale. And Russia and some other countries probably feel obligated to resist such behavior which does not make Russia very popular in the eyes of some Western countries and also does not ease Russian development.

I'm glad that at least some countries (like Russia) resisting world wide aggression, because otherwise it would be НКВД of the whole world and that is scary.