The Soviet Union killed between 20-60 million of its own people.

Did Tsarist Russia really do anything that competes with that?

Not the same scale, but yeah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katorga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassian_genocide

Tsarist Russia enslaved most of its population for centuries.

You sound nonsensical. Russian government did enslave russian population?? Just remember that "coincidentally" the whole Romanov (that's a stage name) family are germans. And official history is even more coincidentally was (over)written by germans.

I think we can agree that it's better to be a slave than to be murdered?

The Soviet Union also made extensive use of slave labor, where millions died.

nonsense. it's cowardice like this that has left the current world enslaved to whatever is the current fad. there's no disgrace in death but generational disgrace in slavery. learn a little bit of history. you'll learn, for example, how the greeks would rather die on the battlefield than be enslaved. or at least try to figure out why the romans never sued for peace during the second punic war even though they were constantly battered on the battlefield.

And yet, Putin says those who don't miss it have no heart.

Thing to remember is the Russian Revolution of 1905 changed the structure of the Russian government to a constitutional Monarchy. That's what the communists overthrew and replaced with something far worse.