NATO states call shots at WADA & use doping claims to contain Russia – Lavrov

The persecution of Russia by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is politically motivated as the body remains in the hands of NATO member states who won’t shy away from any means to harm Moscow, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has said.

The decisions at WADA are made by just over a dozen people, Lavrov pointed out, specifying that they represent “11 NATO members, Australia and Japan; as well as one African country and one from Latin America.”

When the whole pathos of fighting against doping is used to support the voice of those who want to restrain Russia by all means and from all directions, there are probably grounds to evaluate these type of actions as politicized.

Earlier in December, WADA slapped Russia with harsh sanctions over the alleged manipulations with the database of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory it had received from the country’s doping watchdog, RUSADA, as part of its reinstatement process.

RUSADA was labeled non-compliant, with Russia being barred from major sporting events for the next four years. The country’s athletes would only be able to complete internationally under a neutral flag, of course, if they manage to prove that they are clean.

Moscow had vigorously denied the accusations and voiced plans to appeal the ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Earlier this week, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced the result of its probe into the alleged meddling with the Moscow laboratory’s files. It said the database had been accessed remotely by the lab’s former head, Grigory Rodchenkov, who fled to the US in 2015 and became WADA’s main witness in the case against Russia. The investigators also revealed that Rodchenkov had provided WADA with “a sort of an alternative archive of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory,” the origin and the content of which remain unknown.   

WADA’s response to the results of the Russian probe will become a litmus test for the organization, Lavrov signaled. “We’re closely monitoring their reaction… We’ll see how openly, transparent and honestly WADA will be able to discuss this issue.”

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