The linked article is nothing more than incompetent

Fair enough, it wasn't very good. But rn it seems like I (and also the writers of that article) was proven right to be leery of archive.xx

Any info that goes to any Russian website these days can be considered going straight to the government, and therefore harmful, fueling their hybrid war.

Without explicitely using a Russian or Russia-related website.

In your linked, older comment you repeatedly state that it's only trackers and counters, but you should also mention that each time this happens a visitor's IP (and most likely full browser profile) is stored somewhere along the article they clicked on. People do not necessarily know this.