The Russian government’s cyber-attacks against the Democratic National Committee were partly motivated by the World Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into Russian Olympic athletes, according to a report issued by U.S. intelligence officials.
According to the 25-page document, the Olympic doping scandal was cited by Russia President Vladimir Putin as an example of "U.S.-directed efforts to defame Russia, suggesting he sought to use disclosures to discredit the image of the United States and cast it as hypocritical.”
After WADA investigator Richard McLaren found that more than 1,000 Russians were part of a state-sponsored doping program throughout the 2012 London and 2014 Sochi Olympics, some of the country's athletes were banned from the 2016 Rio Games.