Monday’s edition of the BBC’s Panorama programme, Richard Bilton’s report on Putin’s Secret Riches, was a surprisingly sloppy and bitterly disappointing piece of mudslinging, at least by the BBC’s generally high standards of reporting, so it’s hardly surprising that spokesmen for Vladimir Putin, Russian’s President, were scornful.

I am no fan of Vladimir Putin. He presides over a government that…

Sochi fail. Russia fail. Putin fail.

According to a report published by Boris Efimovich Nemtsov, here, the majority of contracts for the 2014 Sochi Olympics went to close friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As much as US $26 billion of the $53 billion spent on the Sochi Olympics disappeared in embezzlement and kickbacks to Putin’s close friends.

This is a scam on a scale that outdoes…