MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia has never and will never support doping in sports, chair of Russia’s newly established Anti-Doping Commission Vitaly Smirnov said Thursday.
"Russia has never had and will never have a state-backed doping program. There is no place for doping in sports. Yes, we've found ourselves in a situation where they've applied unprecedented measures on our athletes. The fact that our team lacks so many members is regretful. It's hard to expect any result from our athletes when there are such changes. Right now we a following the motto 'It's not the winning but the taking part that counts,'" Smirnov said.
Earlier this month, an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren presented a report in which Russia was accused of having run a state-sponsored doping program.
