U.S. Ambassador to Russia Refuses to Deny Whether Sochi Olympics a Mistake

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia refused to deny on Sunday whether hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi was a mistake. 

Appearing on Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday, Mike McFaul was asked whether it was “a mistake to hold the games in Sochi” because the area is “perilously close to a war zone and Russia could have held the games anywhere.” 

“Well, that decision was taken long before my time in government,” McFaul said in deflecting the question. “Whether it’s a mistake or not is for others to judge.”

McFaul, the Montana native who studied and taught at Stanford, announced that he would be leaving his post as U.S. Ambassador to Russia to go back to “the Farm” to teach at Stanford. McFaul is part of the U.S. delegation to Russia for the Sochi Games.