But seriously, if anything fucky is going on rn, my default is that Russia is behind it. Kinda sucks because it's just another conspiracy theory, but it fits too well not to be true most of the time. The coups going on in Niger (and Mali and Burkina Faso before) are the most obvious examples. Less obvious is the disinformation campaign in Germany (and probably all over europe) against progressive policies atm.
I think it’s less about being against progressive policies and more about creating societal friction by supporting controversial figures and helping politicians that are pro-russia. The conservative/ alt right politics fit Russia, but more importantly those parties are often less critical of Russia (they don’t mind their anti human rights / free press autocratic tendencies as much) while also being underrated in the polls. Populistic anti-migration parties often aren’t taken seriously and rarely included in coalitions, but get a surprising amount of votes which can still be fairly useful to influence those countries.
You're never confused because you let your CIA handbook do all the thinking for you. Everyone you disagree with is apparently a tankie. The word has lost all meaning (if it even had one beyond bashing leftists in the first place).