If it was on purpose they wouldn't have released it in their own country and endured months of embarassment before it finally made it to the world.

Communism is the opposite of a meritocracy. Never ascribe intent to communism that can be better explained by incompetance. These people are masters of spin, of reacting, not acting. They get lots of practice at it. Once it was out it became an issue of, "never let a crisis go to waste", but the release was absolutely an accident.

If it was on purpose, it wouldn't have taken months of political back and forth before democrats figured out which side was more advantageous for them.