As if Toilet-Gate weren’t enough, today comes the news that the Russians have installed spy cameras in the bathrooms of their Olympic accomodations.

The Wall Street Journal today quotes Deputy Prime Minister for Olympic preparations Dmitry Kozak admitting that the Russians have video of Olympics guests in their showers.

Apparently, Kozak was giving a press conference on how great the conditions truly are at the Olympic hotels, and how the media was simply exaggerating the horror stories, and actually, Kozak claimed, trying to “sabotage” the Olympics by leaving their showers running all day. That’s when Kozak dropped his bombshell.

“We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,” Kozak said.

Suddenly, the WSJ reports, a Kozak aide rushed in and pulled the reporter away before they could ask the obvious follow-up.

Of course, the larger question is, where can we buy a subscription to these videos? (Well, not the media ones – but I’ll gladly subscribe to the athlete-cams!)

All kidding aside, this comes on the heels of the disastrous news about the condition of Olympic hotels, particularly for the media, and particularly the toilets, the disclosure that the Russians are filming Olympic athletes, media and guests in their showers would seem to be another blow against Vladimir Putin’s desire to use the Sochi Olympics to showcase Russia’s usherance into the 21st century.

Yesterday we had the news that the Russians were eavesdropping on Olympic guests computers and cell phones. And I suppose that’s to be expected, as there’s a major terror threat, and Russia is kinda sorta a dictatorship nowadays – even if it is a bit creepy. But installing spy cams in the showers?

Mind you, these are bathrooms, and rooms overall, that haven’t even been fully completed yet. Many don’t have running water, others that do have water are either finding it urin-colored or only running cold.

So instead of finishing all the rudimentaries, the Russians spent their time installing spy cams in the showers.

And some of these hotels don’t have locks on the doors, doorknobs, or even floors in one case. But they found the time to install spy cameras in the showers.

It’s difficult to accept the “terrorism” argument for installing spy cams in the showers of Olympic guests. It sounds more like the Russians are fishing for opportunities to black mail athletes, media, and officials visting the Olympics, and use that leverage some time in the future.

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