Russia Agrees With IOC Decision on McLaren Report – Deputy Prime Minister

Russia agrees with the balanced statement of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made over the second part of the report of Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren on doping manipulations in Russian sport, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – In July, the WADA commission presented the first part of the report based on the investigation, in which Russia was accused of running a state-wide doping program, recommending the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to consider a blanket ban on the entire Russian team. The IOC instead let individual sports federations decide on the matter. WADA introduced the second part of the report, revealing manipulations by athletes in 30 sporting disciplines, on December 9.

As a result, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned the Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) later banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.

“The IOC statement is rather balanced. It says that the doping damages image of the Olympic Movement and Olympic Games. We agree. But one should see what the violations are about as well as who and how causes damage. I think that is the most important thing. That is why we need to reform WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency]. Everything we could have done as a state, we did,” Mutko told reporters.