(NYTIMES) - For two decades, journalists and officials, in concert with the Kremlin, have merrily spread disinformation. However far-fetched or fantastical - that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was plotting to oust Russian President Vladimir Putin from power, for example - these tales served an obvious purpose: to bolster the regime and guarantee public support for its actions.

Whatever the personal views of members of the political establishment, it seemed clear that the theories played no role in political calculations. They were stories designed to make sense of what the regime, for its own purposes, was doing.