I guess I have some sympathy with you having your Gordian knot regarding the two ‘baddies’, but this is very much a personal view, and does not help one to analyse the situation in geopolitical terms. It’s kind of ‘plague on both of their houses’ which avoids clear-eyed analysis. At the end of the day, we all live in one type of state or another.

In principle, I hope, you do realise that RF state does not have much choice. Get crushed, dismembered and thus exploited by the west or engage the state to move onto war economy footing. Now I am not aware of any oligarchs participating in this since RF military industrial complex is nationalised. Hence my point. And now to quote again:

The WSWS and the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) categorically reject the war that Germany and NATO are waging against Russia in Ukraine. We therefore have no sympathy for the Putin regime, which represents the interests of the Russian oligarchs and is based on the most reactionary traditions of Russian nationalism.

By the by, that last (bolded) sentence, is not a continuity of an idea in this article. There is no conclusion that one can reach from the previously written material, and then starting with ‘Therefore ..' it looks like a ‘clamp on’ sentence as though the political commissar had a hand at editing this piece (I bet he was German (unless it was a committee) hehe).

Now, back to ‘which represents the interests of the Russian oligarchs’. Putin and his government have been clipping the wings of the criminal oligarchic class since day one of his admin. That was the whole point of changes Putin has introduced since Yelsin’s time. Not to take this on board is to be either west’s shill or an ignoramus. I’d probably tend to go for the latter. So, in my opinion, it is clear that this particular part of the slogan is BS.

We are also supposed to just accept this part of the slogan as given: ‘most reactionary traditions of Russian nationalism’. I haven’t seen any analysis made by them. You have interpreted this to mean having ‘section 28’ imposed on their society. Only perhaps as a by-product imo. Russia has been always socially conservative, during and after the dissolution SU. Prior to that, historically, Russia has been defined by the Orthodox Church. I think it would be perhaps closer to what they meant by reactionary (as an atheist I have always been of the view that religion is the opiate of the masses – however, I am tolerant, as long as there is no material exploitation). Meanwhile, contrast Pussy Riot phenomena which was used as a propaganda by the west. When Russians (Pussy Riot) go anarchy, they are serious. It didn’t go down well since they had their ‘plucked chicken’ show in the church. Anyway, RF is not woke : ).