Racism isn't the point, crippling the Russian state is. Assuming anything else smells like bad faith.

One incident related in the story is someone slipping malware into a node library which appears, among other collateral damage, to have deleted the archives one NPO had collected of the war hoping to document Russian war crimes. So really I'm not sold on it being that different.

Draw your own conclusions about authenticity but it doesn't sound implausible.

But there is also the tactical issue of whether such attacks would have the desired effect. Imagine if Russia would attempt to "cripple the US state" to stop the war in Iraq... I think the average Joe in America would feel quite threatened by that notion. As a corollary, consider this: as a response, would Joe be more likely turn against his state, or realise that he desperately needs to support it, in order to defend his way of life?

Technically, there is a way to hurt a state while helping its citizens -- help them move away, to a better place.

Of course, actually targeting elites in power isn't something elites in power want to promote.