I'm admittedly an admirer of Putin so I do have my own bias but the most important aspect of modern Russia is for me that it hasn't by and large been infected by liberalism which is a terminal disease with no known cure. Also their foreign policy is a sane counter-pole to the utter insanity and recklessness of Western and especially American foreign policy. There's obviously big problems to overcome and they're not perfect but their problems can be overcome with time.