“Yes, we have a problem,” the message goes. “But so does everyone else. Why are you singling Russia out, and where is your evidence?”
And in the context of Russia’s confrontation with the West over Syria, Ukraine, and cyber warfare, sporting scandals are inevitably recast as part of a new Cold War.
“They have used every means,” Mr Putin said of the country’s enemies in his annual state of the nation speech earlier this month, “from spreading myths about Russian aggression, propaganda and meddling in others’ elections to persecuting our athletes, including our Paralympic athletes.”
Yet like his sports minister, even as he denied wrong doing, Mr Putin appeared to promise to put things right:
“Every cloud has a silver lining, and the doping scandal, I am sure, will help us to put in place the most advanced system here in Russia for fighting this scourge” he told assembled parliamentarians and Kremlin officials.