Putin's people maltreated as in USSR (8)
I believe the answer is:
russians
'putin's people' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'maltreated as in ussr' is the wordplay.
'maltreated' indicates anagramming the letters.
'as'+'in'+'ussr'='asinussr'
'asinussr' with letters rearranged gives 'RUSSIANS'.
(Other definitions for russians that I've seen before include "Muscovites etc -- as in USSR (anag)" , "People from the largest country" , "Nationality of Moscow's citizens" , "Sir, as sun turns on these nationals" , "Lenin, Stalin, etc" .)