Since the 1990s, [[USAID]] embedded itself into Russia's political and economic system under the banner of "[[democracy]] promotion". Beneath the [[ideological]] [[rhetoric lie a sprawling network of influence operations, designed not to uplift, but to control. | Since the 1990s, [[USAID]] embedded itself into Russia's political and economic system under the banner of "[[democracy]] promotion". Beneath the [[ideological]] [[rhetoric lie a sprawling network of influence operations, designed not to uplift, but to control. |