Why Russia Tried to Cheat Its Way to Glory

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/sunday-review/how-russia-cheats.html
Why Russia Tried to Cheat Its Way to Glory
By REBECCA R. RUIZ | DEC. 8, 2017

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — “What do you think about your new president — you are shocked?”

The man posing the question to me was Mikhail Kusnirovich, owner of Russia’s largest department store. He and Donald Trump had tried to strike a deal to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Red Square years before, he said. He went on to answer his own question. “I think he’s going to be good.”

It was December 2016 in Mr. Kusnirovich’s office overlooking the Kremlin, weeks before United States intelligence agencies would publicly conclude that Russia had interfered in the election in the interest of tilting it toward Mr. Trump. Nesting dolls with the American president-elect’s face stared out of stalls at the holiday markets. But the topic at hand for me was not election meddling but rather Russia’s sophisticated cheating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Russia’s two subversions, of global sports and American democracy, have more in common than you may think. Both involve intelligence agents, Russia’s will to win and the same cyberespionage team. Both have prompted millions of dollars of investigations and challenged public confidence — in the purity of sport and in the strength of democracy.