McLaren Report Tool of Political Pressure, Lacks Objectivity

The so-called McLaren report on Russian doping is a political tool to put pressure on Moscow and does not offer an objective, unbiased opinion, Valery Gazzayev, the deputy chair of Russian Federation State Committee for Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, said Friday.

MOSCOW(Sputnik) — According to Gazzayev, sanctions should be introduced against individuals, not the whole national teams.

"I think this is political pressure through sport. This has been going on at full throttle since May or June. There is no sign of objectivity," Gazzayev told RIA Novosti, following the release of the final part of the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and authored by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren.

In July, a WADA commission led by McLaren presented the first part of the report based on the investigation results, 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 opted to let individual sports federations decide on the matter.

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.