Russia hired an American PR agency to hush up a doping scandal

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Russia has hired a PR agency, Burson-Marsteller, to mitigate the effects of the doping scandal, reported the American radio station Public National Radio.

A former partner of the company Gene Grabowski was invited to the radio station. On the question of how Burson-Marsteller will deal with smoothing the scandal, he replied:

“I don’t know what the strategy is, but there is a saying for such situations in our business. It includes three “F” - foul up, fess up, fix up (make a mistake, admit, correct - RBC). It seems to me that the “erroneous” stage is quite understandable. And now is the time to confess and correct. ”

He explained that in situations such as the Russian doping scandal, "an apology is always offered." “We are sorry that we did it. It was a mistake. But after that you go further. You are not stuck in error, ”Grabowski stressed.

“They explain what they did and what they do to remedy the situation. And this is the moment when trust is verified. And then they must look ahead: you can trust us; we learned a lesson; we are moving forward. This is a classic. Politicians in the United States and even abroad do this all the time. Corporations do it too. And nations do this, ”said the former partner of Burson-Marsteller.

The agency confirmed to the PRWeek industry publication that its European division began working with Russia. “Burson-Marsteller Europe advises on a number of issues related to communications and media regarding Russian participation in the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,” the company said.

Meanwhile, RNS in the press service of the Ministry of Sports did not comment on this information, and representatives of Burson-Marsteller did not answer by phone and to a written request.

9 in May, the American television channel CBS showed the story "The Dark Secret of Russia", in which the ex-employee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Vitaly Stepanov said that he had contacted Skype with the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov.

He told that Russian athletes took doping at the Olympics in Sochi. According to Rodchenkov, “FSB officers” worked in laboratories in Sochi, who “tried to control every step of the anti-doping process.”

Also Rodchenkov, as emphasized in the story, said that at least four Russian athletes who won gold medals at the Olympics in Sochi, "used steroids, and the laboratory hid it." The names of the medalists in the plot are not called.

Three days later, The New York Times also опубликовала article on Russian doping, with reference to Grigory Rodchenkova. He told the publication that Russian athletes, among whom were 15 medalists, used doping during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February of 2014. According to Rodchenkov, he himself developed a mixture of three illicit drugs, which he mixed with alcohol and gave to athletes. Also, according to Rodchenkov, he participated in the substitution of urine samples, which were to be sent for doping tests.

The head of the Ministry of Sports, Vitaly Mutko, called the NYT information absurd. In the Kremlin, it was described as “defamatory slander”.

15 in May, the head of the Ministry of Sports published a column in The Sunday Times, in which he apologized for the Russian athletes who were convicted of doping. He noted that the sports leadership is “ashamed of them.”

18 May Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach did not rule out suspension Russia from the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

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