Over several decades a strong alliance has been developing between the American and Russian right-wings based on alt-right, anti-abortion, anti-gay, and, to some extent, pro-gun issues. Ironically, it began with the International Republican Institute (IRI) eastablished by Ronald Reagan in 1983. The IRI is "one of the components of the National Endowment for Democracy by which it seeks to influence political outcomes and civic society in lesser developed countries around the world. Its efforts are to channel politics and civic society to promote a neoliberal economic and political model; NED/IRI also engage in activities previously performed by the CIA. IRI is mainly funded by U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy. IRI is loosely affiliated to the Republican party – which doesn’t provide any of its funding." (https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Republican_Institute)
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the IRI opened an office in Moscow in 1993 with some of the Americans, including Paul Manafort, started developing extensive ties to Russian politicians and oligarchs.
http://www.msnbc.com/on-assignment/watch/inside-the-international-republ...
Those ties continued to develop with Russian oligarchs, Christian conservatives, and pro-gun activists that helped Trump during the 2016 election and continue to support him today.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/russia-makes-inroads-with-ameri...