MOSCOW — That the Russian Federal Security Service, the famous FSB, is out of control is not a surprise to many people here. But the damage it’s doing to Russia’s standing in the world — and to itself — is really quite extraordinary.

The most recent example: the FSB role trying to hide the doping of Russian athletes from international sports bodies. Moscow’s secret agents, it seems, were busy switching bottles of competitors’ pee.

The result: it now looks all but certain that Russia’s powerful, devoted team of track and field competitors will be banned altogether from the Brazil Olympics this summer.

More.