you had a pretty long investigation that concluded that Russian involvement was a bit of money here and there

I assume having Russian equivalent of McCain, Nuland and CIA running around would provoke a more vigorous response

And 20 years before that, the US tried to pull that shit in Russia, with Yeltsin's second term in 1996. Not covertly, mind you, but while advertising it on every corner and in every media like NYT as a "fight against communism". (which it partly was!)

By that point, Yeltsin was universally hated for turning Russia back towards autocracy, for botched privatization, and the Chechen war. His rating rose from 6% to 53% in mere half a year before the elections, with the help of a massive campaign he organized using the stolen money. But the fact that the Clinton administration aligned with him and tried to "help" him with the massive NGO and media work (that's only the overt part) has been remembered by most who supported the democratic change.

Instead of Yeltsin, it could have been Nemtsov, who was truly popular during that time, but refused to run exactly because Clinton+Gore supported Yeltsin... Nemtsov, remember that name? US administration suddenly did, in 2015. Too bad they didn't before.

"Do nothing" was also Russians' response at the time (except for the brief investigation that was quickly stopped by the autocrat), but that was one of the turning points in the people's minds.

History truly rhymes.