Russia hasn't deserved a good military rep for decades, especially as we've been told about the whole selling of supplies including stockpiles from corruption for a long long time, and even after post Georgia reforms we knew they didn't work within weeks.

The war just made more see through the paper tiger or for me going

To be fair, the West always had this fear of the military might of Russia even after the Cold War. The fact that the reality is that Russia never modernized their weapons, equipment, or tactics past the 80's was a big shock to everyone.