From your article "in particular investment by wealthy people from Russia and the former Soviet republics."
Notice how it says "wealthy people from Russia" and it does not say "Russian Government?" That's because they are two different things.
Further is not evidence of money laundering, the entire purpose of money laundering is to hide the IDENTITY of who's money your laundering. If they know where the money is coming from, then they are not good at money laundering.
Now, an inquisitive mind like yours is probably wondering "how do they know it came from Russia?" Well, in America, we have this thing called OFAC. OFAC is a federal database that is used to stop illicit funds from bad people entering our financial system. When foreign people, or foreign entities invest in America, in this case real estate, the American investor must run an OFAC check to insure they are not working with people who are banned from US financial system (eg. People subject to US sanctions). This OFAC check is submitted to the Federal Government for review.
I hope this helps you in your quest to forumlate a better conspiracy theory.