"It is clearly designed to sow confusion, conflict, and fear among those who criticize Mr. Putin's authoritarian regime."

Following their successful interference in the 2016 election, naturally the Russians did not merely call it a day and retreat to enjoy their success. To the absolute contrary, they have been emboldened by the comprehensive lack of accountability for undermining the U.S. democracy.

Elizabeth Dwoskin and Craig Timberg at the Washington Post: Microsoft Says It Has Found a Russian Operation Targeting U.S. Political Institutions.

A group affiliated with the Russian government created phony versions of six websites — including some related to public policy and to the U.S. Senate — with the apparent goal of hacking into the computers of people who were tricked into visiting, according to Microsoft, which said Monday night that it discovered and disabled the fake sites.

The effort by the notorious APT28 hacking group, which has been publicly linked to a Russian intelligence agency and actively interfered in the 2016 presidential election, underscores the aggressive role that Russian operatives are playing ahead of the midterm elections in the United States.

...Among those targeted were the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington think tank active in investigations of corruption in Russia, and the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit group that promotes democracy worldwide.

..."This apparent spear-phishing attempt against the International Republican Institute and other organizations is consistent with the campaign of meddling that the Kremlin has waged against organizations that support democracy and human rights," said Daniel Twining, IRI's president, who blamed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. "It is clearly designed to sow confusion, conflict, and fear among those who criticize Mr. Putin's authoritarian regime."

There is much more at the link.

Not only is Russia waging a war on our democracy, but now the Kremlin is waging a war on dissidents and critics within our borders. This cannot be tolerated. And it wouldn't be, if the United States president wasn't a puppet of Vladimir Putin and the Republican Party a collection of reprehensible traitors.

But to members of the GOP, Russian interference in U.S. elections is a literal joke:

The Republican Party, folks. "By the way, the Russians are going to help me with Tom Wolf. If I have to use Paul Manafort, I will."—PA state Sen. Scott Wagner, the Republican challenger of Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. Terrific "joke." https://t.co/uBngqPxCvG

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) August 21, 2018

We are not going to have free and fair midterm elections, and the people in charge aren't going to do anything about it, because they will be ousted from power if they do.