There's this book which is required reading apparently by Russian military and political higher ups that gives a great deal of insight on things:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics
The book written in 1997 outlines some interesting Russia objectives namely:
1.) The United Kingdom should be cut off from Europe. (Brexit - Check)
2.) Ukraine should be annexed by Russia because "“Ukraine as a state has no geopolitical meaning, no particular cultural import or universal significance, no geographic uniqueness, no ethnic exclusiveness, its certain territorial ambitions represents an enormous danger for all of Eurasia (Annexation of Crimea in Ukraine, Step One)
3.) Russia should use its special forces within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."[1]
(Supporting a divisive candidate like Trump that played up racial and isolationist rhetoric -- check mate).
Seems like they eased off on the concept of making China an enemy, rather placating them/making them an ally of sorts, but a lot of the other stuff written in 1997 is almost freakishly dead on.
These three points are actually stunning in their accuracy nearly 20 years before hand. There's also the Russian professor/former KGB agent who predicted due to internal instability, the United States would eventually break apart into this:
Russia might be playing a pretty impressive long game here, the ultimate revenge for the break up of the Soviet Union. We tend to think this was ages ago, but it was really only 25 years ago ... not that long in geopolitical terms.
