The best form of flattery is to be admired, imitated or respected. I've always felt proud our fans look up to us or feel we are inspirational.
You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.
In modern Russia, you have no official, formal assessment of this past. Nobody in any Russian document has said that the policy of the Soviet government was criminal, that it was terrible. No one has ever said this.