In 2016 Adam Curtis (BBC) released a revealing documentary called “Hypernormalization”. Covers everything from Russia to 9/11. Rare perspective. Eye-opening. The full film is free on youtube and here on Archive.org.
Putin and a surrealist theatre director, pioneered a new kind of psychological warfare, that used avante-garde ideas from the scifi stories of the Strugatsky Brothers. Think: “Inception” but for politics.