Moscow's intelligence services fear the most powerful blow from the United States
The sports nation Russia has long felt internationally persecuted by the West. Now, Moscow's foreign intelligence service is raising new allegations against the USA. It is said that the most powerful "strike" is being prepared against the "most Russian" disciplines, according to a rare statement.
Moscow's foreign intelligence service SVR fears a new US campaign aimed at further isolating Russia internationally. The organizers of the provocations are said to be targeting even those sports in which Russia has been recognized as a leading nation for decades, without doping scandals, the intelligence service said in a rare public statement. The project's curators for the USA are said to be the former head of the anti-doping agency Grigori Rodchenkov and his deputy Timofey Sobolevsky, who fled Russia and are now under witness protection in the US.
Rodchenkov had accused the Russian FSB of controlling state doping, including at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and of swapping positive samples from athletes. The chemist had fled to Los Angeles in January 2016, feeling unsafe in Russia. He had led the Moscow doping lab from 2006 to 2015 and was a key figure in the Russian doping system before becoming a whistleblower.
Due to state doping, Russia faced sanctions. This year, the country is not allowed to participate in the Paris Olympics due to Moscow's military aggression against Ukraine, with only a few individual athletes allowed to compete under a neutral flag.
"The most powerful 'strike' is being prepared against the 'most Russian' disciplines - rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and figure skating," the SVR said. The intelligence service claims that "plans are underway to inundate renowned sports schools, outstanding coaches, and athletes with terrible dirt and outrageous lies." Russia has long accused the US of waging a campaign to eliminate it as a competitor in international competitions.
"According to American plans, slanderous materials are to convince fans worldwide that the power and beauty of Russian gymnasts, synchronized swimmers, and figure skaters are supposedly the result of taking some miracle drugs, deceit, and illusion." The SVR said Rodchenkov and Sobolevsky relied on contacts with doctors and coaches. Informants are said to be lured with promises of high salaries, relocation, and employment in the West, but no evidence was provided. The intelligence service still accused the US of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Despite Russia's banned participation in this year's Paris Olympics due to political reasons, the SVR alleges that an American campaign is targeting Russian success in disciplines like rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, and figure skdating at the Olympic Games, labelling it as "The most powerful strike against the most Russian disciplines." The intelligence service further claims that Rodchenkov and Sobolevsky, key figures in the doping scandal, are planning to tarnish Russia's reputation in these sports by spreading false accusations of drug use.
