Thanks! Aha, so "state" here refers to the people running the country? Rather than the citizens / "all people living there", (or geographical area) So, could

Thanks! Aha, so "state" here refers to the people running the country? Rather than the citizens / "all people living there", (or geographical area) So, could be organizations indirectly paid by, just an example, Putin or the CCP. But who the people in Russia or China don't know about (and might not have supported). -- I'm not a native speaker (I guess you've noticed :-))