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Swedish sports group reports Russian hackers to police

The Local Sweden
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Swedish sports group reports Russian hackers to police
Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

Sweden’s sport association has reported Russian hacking group Fancy Bear to the police for accessing and publishing the results of doping tests.

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The police report was made by Sweden’s National Sports Association, Riksidrottsförbundet, after the hackers allegedly gained access to the association's computer systems.

"This is an extremely serious crime, where the clear purpose was to discredit Sweden’s anti-doping system," the group's head, Stefan Bergh, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper

Fancy Bear published a list of Swedish athletes it claimed had a propensity for using certain drugs and accused the sporting associating of covering up the truth. 

The Russian group, which writes on its official website that it stands for "fair play and clean sport", says it operates by hacking World Anti-Doping Agency databases. Sweden's anti-doping agency was the most recent target.

"It's not a secret that Sweden has always held a dominant position in such kinds of sports as cross-country skiing, alpine skiing and biathlon," the hackers wrote on their site.

"By a pretty strange coincidence, these disciplines witness an increased number of anti-doping violations."

The site said that Sweden’s winter athletes were "asthmatic warriors" and were "sick athletes who take prohibited drugs", publishing a list of Swedish athletes taking what it called suspicious medication.

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Tommy Forsgren from the Swedish Anti-Doping group blasted the allegations as "unfounded".

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