Russian officials up to President Vladimir Putin have been trying to reassure the International Olympic Committee that its laws against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people won't have an impact on the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Moscow has said that it will respect international norms against discrimination under the agreement it made when it was awarded the Olympics.
Don't believe it.
Russia's scorn for international norms got a public airing last week when a state TV channel, Rossiya 1, broadcast audio recordings from a recent private meeting of human rights advocates and Russian LGBT activists.