Man, I hate weasel words like “could”, “might”, “maybe”, since they are consistent with everything and prove nothing. What’s the basis for making such a statement other than serving as click bait? A “real” journalist would never use such words and would only report the observable facts and not slant their work to support some agenda. Alas, such journalists seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird.
The two authors are stationed at Reuters’ Moscow bureau.