Too much institutional momentum after years of Russia quietly bankrolling crazies to penetrate their organization in order to banana-peel Europe.
Discussion
Oil companies, too, perniciously support a lot of environmentalism with the goal of creating regulatory capture. Similar to how rich NIMBYs trick housing rights activists into opposing new housing, by demonizing developers.
Yup, key point is it's way cheaper to find and fund a crazy who is already in relative alignment with your views than to run an actual agent. BUT you can never really call them off.
The unfortunate reality too, is the cynicism this cycle breeds, in terms of rising political extremism of all sorts, is not immune to these dynamics. Although extremists tend to convince themselves that they are pure of heart, intentions and justified in their maximalist goals. Even though, they may serve as hapless aids in the objectives of far more powerful forces than themselves.