Yeah ... tsarist Russia ... a peasants paradise ...
At what point did Aphrodite say that it was a paradise? You're inserting additional meaning into a perfectly valid statement.
Democracy and paradise are different things.
Everyone having an at least rudimentary education on economics and finances would render your ... theories about Inflation especially hyperinflation rather ... interesting.
Inflation typically isn't good for effective taxation, it's true. But inflation does reduce own-currency debts well enough.
But how much rouble debt did Tsarist Russia hold? I'll bet they have a fair amount of Franc and Pound denominated debt (possibly some dollar denominated debts as well, depending on how France and Britain pass on the loans they took on Russia's behalf).
With the Franc-based debt, France had fairly severe inflation after WW1, but not hyper inflation. So the debts to France may only be reduced relative to £ and $ debt, but still grow heavier in rouble terms.
And again :
why would Russia be more successfull in extracting whatever amount of reparations from Germany ITTL than the 'western' Entente powers including France IOTL ?
Well, is Russia part of the international force occupying the Rhineland until Germany pays up? Does it have its own occupation zone elsewhere (German Silesia maybe)? Almost certainly the answer to one of these is "yes". Now the question is, does Russia withdraw early like the British did (or never turn up, like the Americans)? This is a harder question, I suspect not though. For various reasons - 1) Russia will want its share of reparations paid, 2) being part of the occupation force is likely to be seen as prestigious, 3) it's a way to try to maintain relations with France, which IMO will be under strain after WW1.
In OTL, the reparations policy was basically dictated in Britain as an irrational fear of French domination of Europe, a more reasonable concern for British trade with Germany and British budget austerity (along with a few other more minor factors) came together to make Britain an opponent of the Versailles treaty (even if the British hadn't quite realised it yet). Here, British policy may be changed by Russia remaining active in European politics, since either the Franco-Russian alliance will make Britain even more worried than France alone, or mean that Britain will be working more closely with France, as they try to pull France and Russia apart and make sure France is friendly to Britain.
Further, in OTL, France, Italy and Belgium were basically left to hold up the Entente side of Versailles on their own, and France, who needed either Britain or America (preferably both) on her side should another war with Germany happen, cared very, very much for how her actions were perceived in these countries. And both in practical terms were the enemies of the Versailles peace (not that this puts them in the league of Hitler - wanting to end the Versailles order and replace it with something better is very different from wanting to end the Versailles order and crush all those who insulted Germany). In TTL, France has another potential ally to support her against Germany (though she may prefer Germany even so). So "international opinion" is less likely to mean only British and American opinion, but is likely to also include Italian opinion more and also a big dollop of Russian opinion.
So it may be that the balance of forces favours Versailles actually being enforced, rather than the Entente going "so we're going home, but you'd still better pay up, or else Germany".
Of course, I can imagine that Russia itself might favour withdrawing troops from Germany and might turn against the Versailles order. I think it's less likely, but by no means impossible. Also, as I say, there will be strains between France and Russia, in part over the large amount of money Russia owes to France and to French investors, and in part because the more autocratic Russia is, the more the pre-WW1 strains will continue to grow (though I think Russia MUST become significantly more democratic for a Tsar to hold the throne, whether they go far enough to satisfy French public opinion is another matter). So it is possible to imagine a situation like OTL coming about, where Germany wins the political battle over reparations, but it is easy to imagine the Versailles treaty being more enforced as well. Though of course "more enforced" may only mean that the Versailles order only holds for a few more years or decades and Germany still wins in the end.
One thing that occurs to me - I could see Russia and Italy becoming close allies, which may be quite interesting.
fasquardon