Putin: U.S. secret services control doping whistleblower Rodchenkov

[December 14, 2017]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's former anti-doping chief-turned-whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov is working under the control of U.S. special services, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

The scandal over the 2014 Sochi Olympics, triggered by revelations made by Rodchenkov, is part of a broader doping affair that has led to the suspension of Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA, the country's athletics federation and Paralympic Committee.

Putin also said during his year-end news conference that the doping scandal had been fueled deliberately before Russia's presidential election due in March next year. He also said that both global anti-doping body WADA and the International Olympic Committee were working under duress.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, Vladimir Soldatkin and Jack Stubbs; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 14, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov