Morals aside, you said
> It's curious this is virtually never mentioned amidst all the accusations of Russia involving itself in US elections.
I told you why. Because whatever the US did was not effective, and it's not as newsworthy as things that are happening in the US and affecting Americans.
If it’s nobody gets killed, it’s not murder. I think the principle that attempted murder, unsuccessful conspiracy to commit murder, or soliciting a murder which does not actually occur are lesser offenses than murder is fairly well established.
I remember a old conspiracy case (not for murder) where the actually crime could not be proven to have even existed, but the conspiracy could, so the accused got convicted and sentenced as if the crime had existed and they did it.