The Soviet Union was a criminal totalitarian regime responsible for carrying out genocide, starting World War II, and bringing misery to hundreds of millions of people in a reign of terror that lasted three quarters of a century. The Allies defeated the Nazis.

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a tactical move from both countries to buy time, preventing a two-front war for the Nazis and giving the Soviets time to rebuild build militarily following the Great Purge. The Soviet Union and contemporary Russia have few ideological similarities.