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At Olympics and beyond, getting away with it is Russia’s way

Charles Hamelin and Marie-Philip Poulin, of Canada, carry their country's flag during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) FILE- A couple shares a kiss at a memorial wall with photos of servicemen killed in the conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019. More than 100,000 Russian troops are massed along the Ukrainian border in 2022, preparing for a possible invasion. Vladimir Putin's Russia has perfected the art of flouting the rules, whether the venue is the Olympic arena, international diplomacy or meddling in other countries' elections from the comfort of home. And it has suffered little consequence for its actions. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - In this May 24, 2016 file photo employees work in Russia's national drug-testing laboratory in Moscow. For the Sochi Games in 2014, Russian medal contenders handed over samples of clean urine months in advance before taking a cocktail of steroids dissolved in alcohol, according to Grigory Rodchenkov, then the director of the drug-testing lab for the Games, who later fled to the United States. During the Olympics, Rodchenkov said he swapped out samples via a hole in the wall of the laboratory to a person from the Russian security services who opened the urine sample bottles and replaced the contents with the stored, clean urine. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File) FILE- A bullet riddled effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is coated by fresh snow at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. More than 100,000 Russian troops are currently massed along the Ukrainian border preparing for a possible invasion. Despite weeks of diplomacy, Putin still seems to hold all the cards, pushing Europe to the brink of war and prompting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call this the continent's "most dangerous moment" in decades. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File) FILE- In this Oct. 7, 2009, file photo, a woman places flowers before a portrait of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, in Moscow. Politkovskaya, who won international acclaim for her reporting on the human rights abuses in the Russian republic of Chechnya was shot dead in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File) FILE- Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, right, listen to figure skating coach Tatiana Tarasova in the presidential lounge before the 2014 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, in Sochi, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014. The 2022 Beijing Games' first major scandal has managed to involve 15-year-old figure skater Kamila Valieva who has tested positive for using a banned heart medication that may cost her Russia-but-not-really-Russia team a gold medal in team competition."This is some kind of a fake," said Tarasova. "She's only 15, what do you mean doping?" (RIA Novosti Kremlin, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service/Pool Photo via AP) FILE- Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. Be it sports, politics, hacking or war, the recent history of Russia's relationship with the world can be summed up in one phrase: They get away with it. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File) FILE- A man walks by the Russian Olympic Committee building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Russian athletes are competing under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the third time. The national colors and flag are banned by the International Olympic Committee because of a massive state-sponsored doping operation during the 2014 Sochi Games, which Russia hosted. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File) Kamila Valieva, 15, of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacts after the women's team free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Beijing. The 2022 Games' first major scandal has managed to involve the 15-year-old figure skater who has tested positive for using a banned heart medication that may cost her Russia-but-not-really-Russia team a gold medal in team competition. Kamila Valieva continues to train even as her final disposition is considered, and she may yet compete in the women's individual competition, in which she is favored. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) FILE- Olga Fatkulina and Vadim Shipachyov, of the Russian Olympic Committee, carry a flag into the stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. Russian athletes are competing under the acronym ROC, for Russian Olympic Committee, for the third time. The national colors and flag are banned by the International Olympic Committee because of a massive state-sponsored doping operation during the 2014 Sochi Games, which Russia hosted. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
At Olympics and beyond, getting away with it is Russia’s way