(Mr. Putin sometimes refers to the companies building megaprojects as “national champions” and distributes medals to their owners.) Mr. Putin has personally identified himself with sporting prowess. This form of “whataboutism” has been rife under Mr. Putin — he often responds to criticism of Russia by suggesting that the United States is worse. Russia’s entire track and field team has been barred from competing in Rio, the most severe punishment for doping in Olympic history. “The avalanche of doping scandals in Russia is 90 percent politics, the rest is our fault,” Mr. Kopachev and Mr. Avdokhin wrote.

Source: International New York Times July 20, 2016 23:39 UTC