The head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee in the country’s lower house of parliament was so livid after the U.S. beat the Russians in hockey at the Sochi Games on Saturday that he accused the U.S. of cheating.
With the score tied at 2 in the third period, the Russians scored what could have been the game-winning goal in regulation, but it was disallowed because the net was dislodged, per international rules.
Pushkov, who has a history of anti-American sentiment, then went on a Twitter rant, accusing the the U.S. and Swedish referees of cheating. He then claimed that the United States did not achieve “victory” over Russia. Pushkov tweeted the following in Russian:
“How can a referee from the U.S.A. judge the U.S. team?! The puck was in the goal! What an abomination! Cheating in front of the whole world!! Disgusting.”
Then he tweeted: “It was not a victory by the U.S. team over Russia: it was a ‘victory’ by the judging panel of the U.S. and Sweden. Nobody saw the goal shift.”
Finally: “We all saw how the referees of the United States judged in Salt Lake City. [Here he was reopening an old grudge, dating back to the Winter Olympics of 2002.] Now they are judging the same way in Sochi. This was a stolen victory – and there’s a nasty feeling of deception.”
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