WADA Athlete Committee Calls for Russian Anti-Doping Agency to Be Banned

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Athlete Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Wednesday has called for declaring the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s (RUSADA) non-complaint with the World Anti-Doping Code.

"We are extremely disappointed that the Dec. 31 deadline imposed on Russia by WADA has not been adhered to by the Russian authorities … We now expect that following the process recommended by the CRC that Russia will be declared non-compliant. Only this action will be suitable and appropriate in the view of the athletes," the Athlete Committee said in a statement.

The WADA mission, led by independent expert Jose Antonio Pascual, finished its visit to Moscow on December 21. The mission was tasked with retrieving raw data from the information management system of the Moscow laboratory, but has not managed to complete the task in time. Since the deadline has not been met, WADA said in a statement on Tuesday that its Compliance Review Committee (CRC) would present recommendations to the WADA Executive Committee on the status of RUSADA after its January session.

In 2015, WADA accused Russia of multiple doping violations and declared RUSADA non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code. Russian officials have refuted the allegations of the state-run doping program, while admitting that Russian sports did have some issues with doping abuse.

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On September 20, 2018, the great majority of the WADA Executive Committee voted to reinstate RUSADA as an organization that complies with the World Anti-Doping Code, while stressing that WADA could reinstate RUSADA's non-compliance if the Russian agency failed to give WADA access to the data and samples of Moscow anti-doping laboratory, which was at the heart of the doping scandal, by December 31, 2018.