The Russians have always been involved in dealmaking because they have so many judges under their hegemony. These include judges from former SSR countries who once judged under the banner of the USSR, and judges loaned to former SSRs, like the Armenian, Uzbek and Azerbaijani judges, who are actually Russians. It's easy to get judges from other countries to back their skaters because they control so many judges who can back another federation's skater(s). When there is a possibility of 4 or 5 former SSR judges on a panel, the whole illusion of fairness goes right out the window.
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I still believe that this year deal in ice dancing is for the canadians