Russia has also never been a country of serfs. It is nothing but perseption imposed on you by your propaganda (which seized Historiography too).
In the worst periods serfs were composing not more than 1/3 of population even of regions where serfdom was present.
While half, or maybe most territory of Russia did know serfdom at all - the South with Kossaks, Siberia, the North.
as for awful rulers - it is collateral damage of absolutely nessesary super-centralization of scarse resourses in conditions of lethal and frequent external threats.
if Russians lived in the island having no real strong enemies like the UK or the US, if we had as fertile lands and warm climate like Europe did it might not be needed.
But Russia is a very successful civilization, which not only managed to survive in conditions when everybody else failed (remember Napoleon and Hitler, as examples) but we reached the status of top civilizations of entire History of Human kind. despite hardships, but not thanks to favourable conditions, like Europe.
so, Stalin, Peter the Great, Ivan the Frightening (incorrectly translated as Terrible) were controversial figures, of course, but this is the price for survival and victory over all enemies.
you can add Putin, by the way, who is also a controversial figure, but now he has very good chances of writing down his name in Russian History as the man who defeated the US

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