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In the latest twist to the country's continuing
doping scandal, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday
handed Russia a four-year ban from top international sporting
events, including the next summer and winter Olympics and the
2022 soccer World Cup.
The members of WADA's executive committee unanimously backed
such a ban after finding Moscow guilty of supplying doctored
doping-related laboratory data.
Russia's response, from President Vladimir Putin downwards, has
been defiant and lacking in contrition.
Putin, speaking in Paris earlier on Tuesday, criticized the
principle of collective punishment used to sanction Russia.
"I think there is every grounds to suppose that the basis for
such decisions is not a care about the purity of international
sport, but political considerations which have nothing to do
with the interest of sport or the Olympic movement," Putin said.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally, said on Monday he
recognized that there were still problems to be resolved, but
again he said he saw other forces at work. The move to punish
Moscow looked like "anti-Russian hysteria," he said.
When asked on Tuesday whether anyone in Russia should be
punished over the doping scandal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov did not name any names.
"Right now our main task is to express our disagreement," Peskov
said. "The main thing is not to let collective responsibility
violate the interests of our athletes. Everything else is
secondary."
Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov has sent mixed messages.
When asked on Monday who should be held responsible for the
scandal, he said: "What should I answer now? Should I make
excuses or point my finger at someone else? I completely and
fully understand my level of responsibility."
He went on to add, however, that he had done everything right,
having organized the transfer of the laboratory data to WADA.
"It was difficult, but we did it," he said. Last month he
attributed the discrepancies in the laboratory data to technical
issues.
WADA's compliance review committee said the doctored laboratory
data contained fabricated evidence to "support the argument now
being advanced by the Russian authorities that it was Dr.
Grigory Rodchenkov and two co-conspirators who falsified
entries."
Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian anti-doping
laboratory, revealed a vast state-sponsored doping cover-up
scheme in 2016 after fleeing to the United States.
"Russia's falsifications and cheating continued in 2019 even
when Russia was under scrutiny," he said in a statement on
Monday. "As usual, Russia has disregarded all of its promises
and obligations to clean sport."
The supervisory board of Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA will
convene on Dec. 19 to discuss whether to appeal WADA's
punishment of Russia and bring the case to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Yuri Ganus, RUSADA's head and one of the few official voices who
has said Russia needs to change its sporting culture, has said
he doesn't see any chance of winning an appeal.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew
Osborn and Christian Radnedge)
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