The Russia watchRussia scanned 50 states’ election systems; NRA & Russia; did Putin buy the World Cup?, and more

“Coincidence Number 395”: The N.R.A. spent $30 million to elect Trump. Was it Russian money? (Chris Smith, Vanity Fair)
Congressional Democrats, the F.B.I. and Robert Mueller want to know why Putin-tied oligarchs took such an interest in American gun ownership.

What does the British government know about Trump and Russia? (Paul Wood, Spectator)
A British Member of Parliament thinks that the government has not always done all it can to assist the Mueller inquiry into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

Julian Assange met repeatedly with lobbyist for Russian oligarch linked to Donald Trump’s campaign manager (Cristina Maza, Newsweek)
Adam Waldman, a Washington lobbyist who worked with Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska for almost a decade, met with Assange in his hideout in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London more than almost anyone else last year.

Obama cybersecurity czar: Russian hackers likely scanned election systems in all 50 states (Erin Kelly, USA Today)
Russian hackers likely scanned the election systems of all 50 states for vulnerabilities in 2016 — not just the 21 states confirmed as targets by homeland security officials last year, the cybersecurity czar for former President Barack Obama told a Senate panel Wednesday.

Did Putin buy the World Cup? The FBI’s not saying—yet (Nico Hines, Daily Beast)
Before Christopher Steele, ex-MI6, wrote the infamous Trump dossier, he helped the feds nail FIFA for corruption. The investigation is far from over.

Litvinenko widow threatens to sue RT over ‘libelous’ claims (Luke Harding, Guardian)
RT and another pro-Kremlin channel alleged her husband was murdered by a close friend

The Olympic destroyer hackers may be targeting biochem threat prevention now (Brian Barrett, Wired)
This past winter, malware ripped through the Pyeongchang Olympics, disrupting Wi-Fi, shutting down the Olympics website, and causing generalized digital havoc. The so-called Olympic Destroyer attack gained infamy, too, for using a number of false flags to muddy attribution. Now, researchers at Kaspersky Lab say the group behind those February attacks has returned, with a new target: organizations that respond to and protect against biological and chemical threats.

Senate defense bill pushes Trump to get tougher on Russian hacking (Derek Hawkins, Washington Post)
The Senate wants to turn up the pressure on President Trump and his military chiefs to strike back against Russian hacking.