France had almost a thousand years of autocratic and aggressive tradition. Prussia/Germany too. There’s many more examples.
These things can and do change.
These things can and do change.
Arguably it was actually Robespierre losing is head that had to happen to stop the madness (Terror) in France, or at least create the conditions for it to stop eventually.
I don't know what has to happen in Russia. It is possible for autocratic states, that have always been autocratic, to transition to liberal democracy. It did happen in France, but even after the end of the Terror it still went through a long phase of imperial autocracy. It takes time to develop institutions strong enough to resist autocracy.
“Russian liberalism stops at the border of Ukraine”