How much would you say that US billionaires can be credited for this? It’s very weird to watch US billionaires, UK right wingers, Putin and other long time rulers seem like having a group chat and being in sync.
But speaking of it, Putin was stationed as a KGB officer in saxony in the cold war(allegedly being responsible for radical west german left terrorists) and speaks german. I surely noticed lot's of russian propaganda channels. They became a big thing during Corona and became obvious russian (at least to some), when the channels that propagated antivaxx before suddenly reported anti Ukrainian propaganda and also openly support for the russian aggression.