The Russian involvement in the 2016 election is actually the opposite of history repeating itself. During the Cold War, the USSR intervened to preserve the international order and prevent the ascension of Richard Nixon and then Reagan, men it perceived as erratic, perhaps irrational.

 In 2016, however, Russia worked to elect an erratic, perhaps irrational, American president in hope of shaking up the international order.

The explanation for this dramatic reversal lies in a transformation of the power structure in the Kremlin. Put simply, the foreign policy elites are out and the spies are in.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/02/russia-hacked-our-election-because-the-spies-took-over/?utm_term=.085b8ace44c4#comments