BuzzFeed News’s decision three years ago to publish the now-discredited Steele dossier was not just a major breach of journalistic ethics. It appears it was also one of the most significant, if not the most significant propaganda victories for Moscow.

The dossier, a deeply flawed work of opposition research funded by the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee, almost certainly contained a great deal of Kremlin disinformation, according to a report released this week by the Senate Intelligence Committee.