A day before Democratic voters headed to the polls in Nevada, reports came out of a concerted effort by Russia to assist both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in their presidential campaigns. Democratic opponents of Sanders took this as a sign of common interest between Russia and the self-professed democratic socialist.

Sanders himself quickly denounced Russia’s actions, attributing them to a Russian attempt to divide the American public. While the recent history of Russia’s disinformation campaigns in the West supports the senator’s contention, his anti-establishment views likely also played a role in Russia’s decision to support the Sanders campaign.

Russian trolls/bots and pro-Russian opinion leaders famously supported Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign. They also contributed to the Brexit campaign; supported Catalonian independence; and backed the M5S and League in Italy, AfD in Germany, and Le Pen in France.

Until her campaign became too much of a longshot, those accounts boosted Tulsi Gabbard in the Democratic primary. What all of the movements receiving Russian social media assistance have in common is not their pro-Russian positions — though most of them do have that — but their opposition to the establishment.

There are three reasons Russia sides with Western anti-establishment figures.

First, the West is still the main adversary for most Russian elites, albeit one that’s no longer an existential threat.

That is why Russian interference remains low-cost and deniable. Russian elites have convinced themselves that the Western establishment is inherently Russophobic. Any anti-establishment movement is automatically seen as preferable to the maintenance of the status quo. Both Trump and Sanders meet that criterion. Trump regularly rails against the “deep state” — a talking point Russia uses itself — while Sanders does the same against the Democratic establishment.