This is a very American point of view. I don't think anybody here in Europe in the last decades has looked at Germans with contempt for what Nazis did. It's absolutely ridiculous.
I don't think he's talking about something 77 years ago vs. now.
He want's to describe the association to the generalization. Eg. Nazi vs Germans. And Russians vs. 'Putin's Russians?'. I don't know how to describe it better.
The description of the problem at hand could have been better, but I do agree it's an issue.
I know the difference between the groups. But it could be confusing for someone else who is eg. Russian and they could feel offended.
Most people here realize we are talking about "Putin's Russians" and not ordinary Russians.
But ordinary Russians are aiding Putin too and I know some try to protest under harsh conditions ( jail) or are fleeing Russia.
Eg. I don't consider Russian people living abroad the same as the one that are aiding Putin. And most definitely not the elite that are doing it with knowledge of the complete situation.
But one of the problems is that there's not really a word to describe that 'group' or any of those above mentioned groups.
PS. To share a POV, I asked a Russian friend how she is doing and if she had troubles in 'her social environment' here in Belgium. She said there wasn't an issue. I don't know if I can generalize that though.
> Vatnik or vatnyk (Russian: ватник) is a political slur,[1][2] used in Russia and other post-Soviet states based on an internet meme that was introduced in 2011 by Anton Chadskiy, which denotes a steadfast jingoistic follower of propaganda from the Russian government.[3]