We had a pretty good idea of how the Kremlin would react to the doping scandal: by blaming everyone else and claiming victimhood. Under Vladimir Putin, the self-pitying defensiveness to which Russian leaders have long been prone has toppled into outright paranoia.

Still — and it gives me little pleasure to write this — Putin has a point. The use of illegal substances is hardly confined to his vast and chilly homeland. True, Russia is in a special category in that its authorities seem to have been in on the racket. But performance-enhancing substances themselves are used in most countries and most sports.