In an interview on PBS’s “Frontline,” former Kremlin adviser Gleb Pavlovsky said he wasn’t sure how much influence Putin had over the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but said he thinks Putin believes he helped elect Trump.

“It’s really difficult to understand what was the level of Putin’s involvement or blessing in that,” Pavlovsky said of election meddling. “After November, after Trump was elected, the situation changed. Now Putin understands, or he believed at least, that he was strong. I don’t know who believed in America that Putin elected Trump, but Putin believed that. Putin believed that, and that has become a political factor.”