WADA doping ban ‘not fair, politically motivated,’ Russian President Putin says
Russian President Vladimir Putin has described as not fair and politically-motivated the four-year ban handed to his country by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from major sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, over systematic violations.
Speaking during an annual end-of-year news conference in the capital Moscow on Thursday, Putin stated that Russia's athletes should be allowed to compete under the Russian flag, and that most of Russia's athletes were clean.
“If WADA does not have any issues with our national Olympic committee our team must compete under its flag,” the Russian leader said.
He added, “Any punishment should be individual. If a majority of our athletes are clean how is it possible to slap sanctions against them for someone else's actions?”
He reiterated his opinion that the WADA ban was politically motivated.
“The WADA decision contradicts the Olympic Charter,” Putin commented.
Meanwhile, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) said on Thursday that Moscow will appeal against WADA’S four-year doping ban.
RUSADA’s supervisory committee decided to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the ruling.
Russian athletes could miss the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the Beijing Winter Olympics of 2022 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar if the ruling is upheld.
Russia is likely to be eligible to return to major international competitions in early 2024.
WADA took the measure against Russia on December 9, but said the door has been left open for clean individual athletes to compete as neutrals without country affiliation in the Tokyo Olympics, as was the case for Russians at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.
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