Also there is no hold over sympathy for Russia by the current elite. There are no people in influential and powerful positions today who experimented with, or at least flirted with "Putinism" in their youth, unlike the post-FDR elite did with Marxism. There has been no great conflict in recent memory in which Russia was an ally.
Ironically Russia makes itself the perfect devil for the current elite by being nominally conventional in its government structure, while retaining a conservative disposition. To the liberals, its as if Russia is a sort of GOPistan. Its probably why dem propagandist kept pushing the link between Trump and Putin, because they knew it would work well on their people. As counter intuitive as this may sound, I don't think the rabid hate Russia invokes and the propaganda would be as effective if they were openly some sort of Neo-Tsarist, or have some sort of Post-Cold War Commie system like China.