Maybe. But I'm having trouble with the concept that Putin and his operatives are that stupid.
There is of course, a third possibility, and that is that Putin & Co. ARE responsible, and are deliberately going about this in a way that, if the pattern continues, will convince the world that some powerful and vicious anti-Putin operatives are trying to frame him.
And a fourth: that parties who Putin believes are loyal to him, but actually are not, are doing this to convince Putin himself that he has very powerful enemies who are successfully framing him to undermine his power. This would make Putin more susceptible to being manipulated by underlings with ulterior motives, into doing things that he previously declined their advice to do. "See, we told you so."
I insist on my simple theory that Putin is stupid and/or crazy.
Do not gas-wars with Russia's neighbours, especially Ukraine after the Orange revolution, bring Putin only ill fame and therefore weaken his influence?
Did the demolition of YUKOS do any good to Putin's international reputation or, more important, to Russia's economy's reputation, with the collapse of the stock market and the capital outflow?
Do the latest reforms in the russian government, slowly eating away the remains of democracy, help his international image?
He either doesn't realize or doesn't care.
Did Stalin or Hitler care much about how they looked to the rest of the world?
Of course this is because they both were perfectly sure they'd eventually seize the world anyway so why care about image. But who can guarantee Putin is not that sick? It seem to me he's quite unpredictable.