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“After all, there is no proof. There’s going to be an additional stream of falsehoods and baseless accusations,” Igor Lebedev, chairman of the far-right Liberal Democratic Party, told R-Sport.

Pause here, and consider what it takes to be considered “far right” in Putin’s Russia. Then add in “Liberal Democratic Party,” and if you’re not already laughing …

“All of this means that they don’t have any facts, and they don’t have any proof. Trust me, if they did, then the fight would’ve been on a different level and more serious. All of this has very strong political overtones, and we hope Russians’ favourite Trump will put a stop to this.”

Now, there’s a pretty good chance Lebedev, who urged Russian supporters to “keep up the good work” when they clashed with British fans at this year’s European soccer championship, is a wingnut and not to be taken as representative of the Russian response to the McLaren report.

What Russian in his right mind would publicly appeal to the President-elect of the United States, Time magazine’s person of the year, Donald J. Trump himself, to intervene in an investigation and save Russia from the prospect of an Olympic death penalty?

Not that there’s been any evidence so far that IOC president Thomas Bach has the intestinal fortitude to meet Putin’s glare without flinching.

But just in case the IOC executive board pulls its head out of its nether regions and realizes that this particular moment in history threatens the very existence of the Olympic movement, Russia needs friends in high places to keep it from being banished from the sporting landscape as a recidivist cheat that has no interest in reforming.