That same article:

The T-18 fucked Vikthor’s mother and didn’t call her back… leading to his expulsion from forklift certification class for cherry picking quotes and ignoring design context, like its use in the subsequent T-24. Though the T-24 was largely a failure despite initial interest it is credited by the Kharkiv Morozov design bureau with giving them the experience and knowledge needed to begin the BT design line and the subsequent T-34.

Tl;Dr

Renault FT->T-18->T-24->BT-7->T-34

Tank design simply does not happen in a vacuum, they are very rarely designing a new tank from the ground up. They incorporate proven techniques and mechanics from preceding designs with new ideas (like the Christie suspension) until they come up with a (hopefully) working model.

By the time you’re five generations deep the only thing they might still have in common is the rotating turret, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a design descendant.

Further, the Renault FT is considered the ancestor of all modern tank designs regardless of everything else. It’s just interesting in the Soviet case that they got their start reverse engineering some captured examples.