Comment by phatfish

Sounds plausable.

There is a video somewhere of a Finnish university professor from around the time the war started (maybe a bit before), explaining the Russian attitude to sportsmanship, or whatever you want to call it.

Basically he suggested cheating is not considered unethical in Russia. If you are not using all means available to reach your goal you are leaving something on the table and are weak. This applies to all levels of society.

I would be cautious of such generalisations normally. But the industrial scale cheating at the winter Olympics says a lot.