Okay, I should state from the start that I am not reading liberal propaganda, nor am I interested in what liberals think, because they are wrong about everything.

With that said, I can agree that Putin is "authoritarian". That does not make him a fascist at all, however - he is, as I said, a liberal democrat. Authoritarian liberalism is not at all rare. Ataturk is a classic example - he was an authoritarian who utterly destroyed Ottoman society, institutions and social organisation in order to create a liberal democratic Turkish republic. This is what Putin is doing as well. He hates radicals. For pity's sake, he's waging a "denazification" war in Ukraine - how could you possibly believe him to be a Nazi or a fascist? The sheer level of cognitive dissonance required is unimaginable.