Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday it had uncovered an American espionage operation that compromised thousands of iPhones using sophisticated surveillance software.
I mean, they most certainly have the technical ability to hack anyone. If you think they don’t strategically stockpile and use zero-days, you aren’t paying attention.
Probably not, it's likely trying to shift Russian citizens from buying them over to some Chinese counterpart. Even in China "Apple" stuff means you're rich and it has exclusivity factor.