"Left" is a relative concept. The original French revolution left was liberalist. Liberalism is the core ideology of the current western world. Both Democrats and Republicans are liberalists. Even Putin is predominantly a liberalist.
He's an authoritarian autocrat. I've never come across a definition of "liberal" that includes that.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/friedrich-hayek-dictatorshi...
I don't think "leftism" is really an ideology, or at least it can mean very different things in different contexts.
Edit: I find it also better to use "liberalist" instead of "liberal" when referring to the political movement and ideology. "Liberal" is easy to misinterpret and misuse, and it tends to hide the fact that liberalism a quite specific ideology, that e.g. has no monopoly on liberty.