Quote from IShopAtPublix:
No, you need intellect and sophistication to see the difference between Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, etc.
The reason Russia has ANY attributes of a great power is due to Stalin. Russia lost WWI terribly, lost territory because of it. In a short time(Stalin attained supremacy in 1928 or so), Stalin built up industrial base, and build up a military that was capable of warfare on massive scale. Soviets had some of the most advanced tanks at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, (Specifically KV-1, KV-2, T-34)
Stalin's rule got a lot of people killed. However, it was not possible to bring a country that was so backward as Russia was in a short time to face the deadly danger of Hitler's Wehrmacht.