Commodus

This is the secret to Russian propaganda. It's not supposed to make sense All they care about is destabilising the West so it becomes too weak to stop them. That's all that matters During the height of the Internet Research Agency days in the 2010s (a dedicated online Russian propaganda site HQ'd in Russia) they famously planned BLM protests in America AND planned the counter protest. All on Facebook. With real Americans who actually did care about the issue They aren't trying to make Russia look good and they aren't puppeteering societies. They're trying to destabilise the West using any issue they can find that can cause division And in this case a great way to do that is to do almost nonsensical, plausibly deniable actions in the hopes that when governments point out Russias involvement, a certain percentage of the population become skeptical The more they can push the needle on distrust Westerners have in their governments the weaker Western countries become And a weaker West allows Russia get what it wants