The article shows evidence of sloppiness, not really of fraud. Neither would really surprise me, given the high political stakes. But I suspect that if Russia w

The article shows evidence of sloppiness, not really of fraud. Neither would really surprise me, given the high political stakes. But I suspect that if Russia went for full-on fraud, they would do a much better job than this. Case in point: the doping scandal at the Sochi winter olympics. It was evil, yes, but you cannot help but admire how detailed and well-executed the operation was. They designed and built a whole building around the scheme! Supposedly, even the FSB (reincarnation of KGB) was involved. If not for a senior whistle-blower, I think we would never know. I'm sure that if there was some top-level prikaz to cook the books, there would be no discernible flaws in the data whatsoever.