It appears that Russia fell for the same ruse that much of America, not to mention its press and punditry, was taken by, at least according to the FBI director: believing US polls.
During his hearing before the House Intel Panel, FBI Director James Comey said that the Russians expected Hillary Clinton to win the presidency over Donald Trump as of August and September.
“Late in the summer they concluded based on the polling that a lot of people were reading that Mr. Trump didn’t stand a chance,” said Comey, although it was not clear just how the FBI knew what the Russians "concluded" as of last summer.
The FBI director's extrapolations then continued: “let’s just focus on undermining her,” Comey says of Russian thinking at the time, which however was also confusing as earlier in his testimony Comey said "we saw no efforts aimed at the vote itself."Comey then disputed the content of a tweet from President Trump regarding Russia influencing the 2016 presidential race. At the same time that Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers testified to the House Intelligence Committee about Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, the president tweeted a video from his @POTUS account, saying "the NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process."