The difference is that nationalists seek internal development for production, whereas imperialists seek underdevelopment to keep wages low and out of the higher “value add” parts of supply chains (that are really only “value add” because the west historically had a monopoly on them). The system isn’t working for everyone though, and as such communists are rising in quantity and the nationalists are forced into trying to claim soviet heritage. This isn’t really working, though, and the CPRF has been rising in support. Modern internal armies aren’t ominpotent, nor does it need to look like the Russian Civil War of the past.