Putin does praise Stalin in implicit like in Valdai conference of 2016 , he said if USSR didn't centralize resources, education, military industrial complex then Russia as a nation wouldn't have survived. Also Putin has banned comparing Stalin to Hitler. No doubt Putin dislikes communists but he is not pro Hitler or equates USSR to fascism. Although Putin and entourage are not communists hates progressive ideological standpoint. But don't worry 71 percent of Russians love Stalin. Actually to know Stalin you have to talk to old Russians who were under Stalin rule and most of them loved the time.