Putin does it out in the open.
• He has any real potential opponents murdered or constantly detained/harassed by security services and shut out from the election by concocted crime convictions.
• He squashes demonstrations and protests with draconian laws that leave no room for something akin to the first amendment.
• Election officials are controlled by the state, and many stuff ballot boxes.
• He/the state controls and owns the media
So in a nutshell he doesn't do it in the shadows, and he uses the power of the centralized state. The Clinton's don't have or couldn't operate the same way, so
I mean I'm not at all a Clinton conspiracy theorist but Hillary losing the election(s) isn't a proof through to the claim that the Clinton's obviously don't or couldn't have some powerful behind closed doors influence.