A network of Kremlin-backed influencers seek to portray Russia as a bastion of traditional values in an attempt to attract those who deplore Western “liberalism.”
In a brightly lit conference room of a Moscow police department, a smiling officer flanked by Russian flags and gilded double-headed eagles handed over small blue booklets to an American family of five — asylum certificates granting them the right to live and work in Russia after fleeing Texas because they felt their way of life was under threat.
“I feel like I’ve been put on an ark of safety for my family,” 61-year-old Leo Hare said at the time. “I want to thank President [Vladimir] Putin for allowing Russia to become a good place for families in this world climate.”
The object of this piece is to take a small scale phenomenon and tar MAGA, conservatives and the religious as Putinesque.
