That's one of the issues with authoritarian dictatorships. Their populace can be of much less concern to them than in western democracies. That's not even ascribing noble intentions to western leaders (though I'd argue that relative to someone like Putin their intentions are at least not AS bad). But the nature of governments like those in the west is that (again, relatively speaking) they answer to their populace more. The results are better for their citizens simply due to SOME level of accountability.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And Putin has it. His people will always have worse lives (as will those in other nations where he wields influence with puppet governments) than those in more representative states. Which is why the Ukraine wanted out from under his boot and to align itself with the west. Of course corruption, greed, etc happen with western style governments too, but its again a matter of degrees.
And all of this bleeds over into how these different style governments interact. The west pacifying someone like Putin gives that style government credibility. Sometimes it can't be helped, sometimes it's done out of western politicians and corporations looking out for themselves. But when there are moments in history that require standing up to it and attempting to change it, those moments should be taken advantage I whatever reasonable ways are possible.
