re: What Is The Russians' Goal?

Short term I'm sure they wanted to discuss the sanction situation, while long term the benefit would be weakening NATO specifically, as NATO and the EU continue to expand into the traditional Russian sphere of influence. There are a lot of geopolitical explanations that can be applied post hoc. I don't know how true they are.

Brexit drove some of that, as a key Russian hardliner, Aleksander Dugin, wrote of isolating Britain from Europe in a book that was supposedly influential in the Russian political circles in the 90s. I'm skeptical of overt Russian influence there too.

I mean, I would be very surprised if Russia didn't attempt to interfere in some fashion, as we would do the same to their elections.