That is may be an attempt to get back to this original thread topic (I'll go pick up a beer first
).
The fact that Russians are seen as evil might go back to the events in 1904-1905 with Japan. I'm currently reading interesting report on that and something striking came out of it.
A Western view (still true today) imply that when we fight a war (except of course among ourselves) it's always the fight between civilisation (us) and the barbarians (them). Of course we evolved slightly and we, now, bring them Democracy (in place of civilisation).
That was also the case for the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. And the Russians were first presented as being the champions of civilisation going to fight the Barbaric Japanese. When Japan finally came on top, the propaganda in the West changed. Russian slowly becoming the Barbarians while the Japanese were gaining their place among the civilised world.