> Of course, the question is, where is that money coming from and whether anyone is bankrolling them, and if so, what their motives are.

Wild speculation here, but if they are located in a country that is recently a lot less friendly with the west, maybe they decided that being overt isn't a real problem given what they are doing is de facto legal where they live. Being a Belarusian or Russian cybercriminal targeting the west is probably less risky now than ever before (and it wasn't especially problematic before.)