Olympic champion in speed skating, State Duma deputy Svetlana Zhurova considers it logical the decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to leave unchanged the status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). She reported about it TASS.
The meeting of the executive committee of WADA was held on January 22 in a teleconference format. When making decisions, members of the executive committee relied on the recommendation of the independent compliance committee WADA, which assessed the fulfillment by the Russian authorities of the conditions for reinstatement of RUSADA. As it became known from the WADA report, the committee recommended not to apply sanctions against RUSADA, the executive committee supported this proposal.
“Russia fulfills all obligations under the roadmap, therefore, despite all the attempts of various anti-doping agencies to discredit this situation, everything went naturally. At the moment there are no reasons to impose any sanctions on RUSADA. Yes, documents are being studied, it may be accepted some decisions, and then if necessary. All this is very important, as the Russian Paralympic Committee is waiting for, the All-Russian Athletics Federation is waiting, and then RUSADA will not depend on any conditions, “said Zhurova.
“Yes, there were a number of dissatisfied countries that referred to the so-called deadlines. All this was done in order to unleash and provoke a new wave of information flow in the media. We need to understand that we cannot open the door for anyone who wants to. We have there are a number of rules and laws, and when in the territory of other states we are obliged to comply with compliance with the law, then why should we do leniency “, added Zhurova.
RUSADA was restricted in November 2015 after the publication of Richard Pound’s report on doping in Russian athletics. The return of the status has been repeatedly postponed due to new doping proceedings in Russian sport and the investigation of the WADA commission led by Richard McLaren.
On September 20, 2018, the executive committee decided to restore rights to RUSADA. To maintain status, the Russian side had to fulfill two conditions: to provide access to WADA experts to the database of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory until December 31, 2018, and also to transfer all suspicious doping tests from the laboratory to a double-check on June 30, 2019.