There are tons of these Christian cults around all over the world. People just ignore them because they think Christianity is “one of the good ones”. But they ignore the fact that it has all the same bad things they complain about from other religions and it just takes a leader to emphasize those bad things to convince people those things are “good” because everything in a “good book” from a “good god” must be right and good. It would really help if the people who keep pushing for Bible classes in schools would actually read the whole thing.
This isn’t about image or ideology for Putin, though he definitely can’t afford to lose face either. This has always been about proving he could have won the cold war if people had just listened to him. This involves returning direct control, or at least very close alliances with his pawns in charge, with all of the former USSR territories. And winning against the West, though I’m not sure what criteria he has on that side of things besides bringing the US under his indirect control which he’s half way there.