Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning his countrymen that the U.S. may try to subvert the country’s coming election, as payback for charges that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 American presidential election — and said he’s got proof.
Mr. Putin, who is widely expected to enter and win the March 18 presidential vote, said the U.S. is behind a recent wave of doping allegations targeting Russian athletes as part of a larger effort to delegitimize the Russian system.
On Thursday, four Russian cross-country skiers were found guilty of doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In all, six Russian skiers have been found guilty by an International Olympics Committee commission.
“In response to our alleged interference in their elections, they want to create problems during the election of the president of Russia,” Mr. Putin said Thursday.
On a visit to Chelyabinsk on Thursday, the Russian leader said he had “strong suspicions” that Washington would try to create a “disgruntled” attitude toward Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, which will conclude just weeks before the Russian presidential vote.
“If that’s the case, it’s very bad; it undermines the whole purpose of the Olympic movement,” he said, according to a report in the state-funded RT news network.
Mr. Putin has bristled at any suggestion of election meddling ever since charges that Kremlin operatives conducted a sophisticated cyber campaign to influence America’s 2016 presidential election to sow political chaos and perhaps aid Republican Donald Trump first rocked Washington more than a year ago.
The charges have sparked multiple congressional and federal probes, including the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to probe whether Mr. Trump’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin to hack the U.S. vote. Russian officials have consistently denied involvement in efforts to interfere with the vote, including the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails.
They also reject complaints that the Kremlin-funded Sputnik news agency and the RT satellite television channel act as government propaganda arms.
In turn, they have alleged that U.S. private companies effectively act in line with Washington directives.
After Twitter last month banned advertising by RT and Sputnik, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that the move was due to pressure from U.S. intelligence services. She said retaliatory measures would be taken, but none have emerged.
On Thursday, Ms. Zakharova said “symmetrical measures” would follow if the U.S. restricts Russian media activities.
On the doping charges that have devastated Russia’s national athletics programs, Mr. Putin noted that international sports organizations have a complex skein of “relationships and dependencies.” He added that “the controlling stake is in the United States,” the home of the global event’s biggest sponsors and television broadcasters.
The Russian Cross-Country Ski Federation said Thursday that four of its skiers at the 2014 Sochi Olympics have been disqualified by the International Olympic Committee and banned from all future Olympics. They include one Russian skier who won three silver medals.
Six Russian cross-country skiers have now been found guilty of doping at the Sochi Olympics by an IOC panel.
— This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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