Putin said the effort aimed to ensure Russia was either barred from next year's Winter Olympics entirely or forced to compete under a neutral flag. Missing the Olympics or competing as neutrals would be "degrading" for Russia, Putin added, and suggested it might be meant to interfere in the Russian presidential election in March. Russia is already under IOC investigation over allegations it operated a state-backed doping program including swapping out dirty samples at the drug-testing laboratory for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Neither Putin nor Peskov specified which specific U.S. government bodies might be involved in the alleged pressuring of the IOC. Putin's suggestion of U.S. meddling in the Russian election comes amid investigations in the U.S. into alleged interference in last year's presidential vote.

Source: CBC News October 20, 2017 11:26 UTC