I actually found the weeks around the Russians invasion in 2022 quite enlightening here on Lemmy. I must admit I previously felt like "Tankie" was a tired trope and despite some previous evidence to the contrary in regards to support of Assad, I thought they could be reasoned with.
But seeing them here on Lemmy in real-time turn from confused and maybe slightly scared right after the invasion (which they loudly proclaimed would never happen right before it did happen), towards renewed support of Putin's regime clearly showed to me that they are so good at lying to themselves that they can never be trusted.