I'm not sure if he's reporting to them and on the payroll, but that's not really necessary to begin with. He's as stupid as they come, he's still playing right into their hands. Whether or not he knows he's doing their bidding isn't that important, they're still getting the end result they want. Putin hasn't stopped jumping up and down since the orange toddler took office. It's like his birthday every day.

..and if he could take advantage of those corpses in the morgue, he'd do it quicker than a funeral home.

I bet if you yelled "hey, Kompromat Krasnov!" at him during a rally, he'd instinctively duck.