If only back then Russia was sanctioned hard for all that crap
They probably would have been if the "war on terror" thing hadn't kicked in. America under Bush, and to a certain extent even now, would overlook all kinds of suffering if it meant that perceived Islamic extremist forces could be defeated. Even now we've got idiots in America saying they're quite happy with the Chechen situation (corrupt Islamist dictatorship) as long as the Caucasus Emirate doesn't rear its ugly head.
As an example; Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan, has been the best friend of the British Government, the American Government and the Russian Government on various occasions throughout the last 10 years due to his importance as a "strategic ally" in the war on terror. He allows Americans to station their troops in his country, for one thing. This is in spite of the fact that he literally boils dissidents alive i.e. rips their fingernails out, smashes their knees/faces and puts them in a big vat of scalding hot water until their skin burns off/they die. He is possibly one of the most evil heads of state out there west of North Korea. Our governments are complicit in this in that we (possibly even now, I don't know) used to send Afghan POWs to Uzbekistan to be tortured by their government because torture is illegal in our countries.
At the moment Karimov is Putin's best pal, having seemingly decided that his alliance with America and Britain had run its course.