Because it is wrong. Same thing as with ‘a uniform’.

That’s true, but the reason is not claiming the ideology, but claiming the authority over the territories of the former soviet republic for his imperialism and his idea of great Russia.

Authoritarianism is bad on all sides of the political spectrum. But neither Trump nor Putin are left wing.

Yeah, but Putin is not a communist. He’s a russian right wing authoritarian dictator. The current russian flag would do better in that place.

I don’t get why the author had the need to fill in communist symbolysm. It’s fascism all along. Feels a bit like “both sides”, when it’s absolutely not true.