Also TOR was just an example. TOR is just one networking stack designed not to keep logs, and to strip identifying information if possible from packets (it may not even do that). It is totally possible to role your own stack and build your own anonymizer if you compromise a machine with root access. You'd have to know what you are doing, but it is doable. So TOR is the most common and well known, but it does not use specialized hardware, it just uses techniques developed by that community and working on THEIR agreed standard.

I am not saying this happened. I am merely expressing it as an option.

In reality if it were a Russian citizen hacker they would probably use TOR. If it was a Russian State hacker and they were good I doubt they would. That is total speculation. That is all we can really do without access to information.

Yet I also do not believe this should be pushed like it is in the news PUBLICLY if it is classified.

It is then stirring up hostility and conflict with the only thing backing it being "trust us because we say it is the case" by entities that have proven untrustworthy.