After the adoption of the “Rodchenkov Law” by the US Senate, there will be fewer and fewer people wishing to compete with the United States, since vague wording can threaten any coach or manager with a conclusion, says Elena Panina, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
Earlier, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that the Senate passed a bill that allows American courts to issue criminal sentences for doping at events in which American athletes participate. The bill is named after WADA informant Grigory Rodchenkov. WADA believes that this law could scare off whistleblowers about doping violations if there is a risk that they could be prosecuted. WADA is concerned that similar laws may appear in other countries for political reasons, for example, in retaliation against athletes from certain countries. The law does not apply to American professional leagues and college sports.
In an interview with RIA Novosti, Panina noted that this document looks absolutely absurd.
“This act criminalizes the use of doping in competitions where American athletes participate. Given the vagueness of the” doping codes “, any coach or manager can go to an American prison, whose ward was ahead of an American in competitions. In this situation, everyone who wants to compete with the Americans will be less and less – who wants to go to jail? And it is possible that in the end the US athletes will compete exclusively with themselves, and this will all end, “Panina noted.
At the same time, according to the politician, the document adopted by the US Senate contains extremely dangerous moments that go far beyond the sporting theme.
“Before us is another attempt to give a universal character to the internal legal norms of the United States, and this is a direct challenge to international law, to the entire modern system of international relations. As long as the United States follows this path, international security is under threat,” she stated.