In the end the Russian people chose--and chose decisively--to reject the past. Voting in the final round of the presidential election last week, they preferred Boris Yeltsin to his Communist rival Gennadi Zyuganov by a margin of 13 percentage points. He is far from the ideal democrat or reformer, and his lieutenants Victor Chernomyrdin and Alexander Lebed are already squabbling over power, but Yeltsin is arguably the best hope Russia has for moving toward pluralism and an open economy. By re-electing him, the Russians defied predictions that they might willingly resubmit themselves to communist rule.

The outcome was by no means inevitable. Last winter Yeltsin's approval ratings were in the single digits. There are many reasons for his change in fortune, but a crucial one has remained a secret. For four months, a group of American political consultants clandestinely participated in guiding Yeltsin's campaign. Here is the inside story of how these advisers helped Yeltsin achieve the victory that will keep reform in Russia alive.

Since the spring, U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies have seen mounting evidence of an active Russian influence operation targeting the 2016 presidential election...., undermining faith in the result and in democracy itself.
......
Russia’s interference in the U.S. election is an extraordinary escalation of an already worrying trend.
......
in Trump, Putin has found an almost perfect, if unwitting, ally for his influence operation.

Meanwhile, everyone with a brain moves away from Russia (even the oligarchs!) or drinks himself to death

The Czech government doesn't publish fake news or propaganda

Czech Defense Minister Martin Stropnický says refugees are being transported through the West Balkan corridor to Western Europe with buses paid for by the Russian government. Stropnický’s statements were published over the weekend in Czech daily Mladá fronta Dnes.
According to him, he received this information from Hungary’s Defense Minister István Simicskó.
Stropnický told the Czech daily he has no reason to disbelieve statements by Simicskó. The Czech said it is likely that Russia’s objective is to destabilize the European Union.

Fake news is likely to be on both sides.

For four months, a group of American political consultants clandestinely participated in guiding Yeltsin's campaign. Here is the inside story of how these advisers helped Yeltsin achieve the victory that will keep reform in Russia alive.

At the Correos de Cuba and the hotels, you have access to practically all news websites such as lemonde.fr, bbc.com, El Nuevo Herald (a Miami-based Spanish-language daily) and even to dissident sites. This is also the case for government employees with a computer and Internet access.

“I haven’t opened Granma for years,” says Luis, who works for the culture ministry. “I get my news from Google and the BBC website and I have never had any problem getting to websites operated by government opponents.
In fact, of all the news stories I wanted to read on the Internet, only one has been blocked.

oil/gas/weapons/prostitute exports

Western media organizations are trying to demonize China and promote revolution and national disintegration as they hate seeing the country prosper...
...reminding state media of its responsibility to promote a "correct political direction"
China also needed to combat the distorted view the Western media...
Li called on mainstream Chinese media to refute "untruthful reports"...

The use of social media as a source of news has become a fixture in the United States—scrolling Twitter feeds appear next to news anchors, and tips from Facebook regularly result in television coverage. But not in China.
The Chinese Communist Party has recently created a new regulation that describes information from social media as “fake news” and “rumors,” effectively banning its use as a source of information, lest serious consequences follow.

the corruption foisted upon them by their pro-Russian "leaders"

“What difference for Ukrainians does it make who will treat them like dirt: Poroshenko or Yanukovych; what difference who will steal from them?”

limited choice