lemmy.ml (or even the infamous lemmygrad) was never intended to be the flagship instance afaik. I first signed up on lemmy.ml but one of the first things I saw was a sticky from the devs to choose other instances. That's primarily why I looked for others (I wasn't aware of these "rumors" back then). It just happened to be the biggest at that time.

Personally, as long as their political beliefs aren't being pushed on lemmy then I don't see anything wrong. Many of us came from reddit, and they're not exactly without controversies - that never meant we supported or even believed in some of those.

The people who stick around might start thinking the Tankies make some good points.

Then it's up to them to educate themselves. We've all been exposed to things we disagree with.