He says he gets crowd funding. I don’t think the Russians would pay for his propaganda efforts, because Russia, and especially Putin, typically doesn’t GAGS for foreign public opinion. They believe everyone is against them, and wants to take from them all their riches (oil and natural gas, agriculture, Katyusha dolls). To them, NATO is ipso facto Nazi, because they are against Mother Russia. If Patrick Lancaster could, thru his efforts, get all the sanctions lifted, he would interest Putin. ‘til then, he’s just an American who speaks lousy Russian and has an opinion.
Lancaster barely collected any money, but somehow magically was able to support himself overseas. He's another Walter Duranty.
Lancaster also describes himself as an independent journalist, and says his work is entirely funded through crowdfunding. Despite this, he seems to have raised less than $6,500 in the past eight months.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40647061