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

[December 15, 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.

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

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)

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