I don't think Russia did in the beginning, the likes of Le Pen, Haider and Fortuyn were peddling their wares whilst Putin was still finding his feet. There have been objections to the EU for a long while but Putin does benefit from their existence and he has helped fuel a rise in social discord.

That said, I'm not convinced the Democratic left has helped itself by embracing 'woke' ideas as part of their messaging - what Europe needs to do is demonstrate that it is a more stable, cogent and coherent place than totalitarian Russia - you want people looking over the border in the way they were looking over the Berlin Wall - and embracing identity politics in favour of economic arguments for the working class was an own goal. Putin has just helped kick it in.