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Doping scandal in Russian sports

Russia ready to help WADA investigating hackers’ attack — Kremlin

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli earlier claimed the hacker attacks were originating from Russia

© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Russia will help investigating a recent cyber-attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) database in case the global organization requests such assistance from Moscow, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We will definitely help, if they request the assistance," Peskov told journalists after asked whether Russia was willing to fight illegal activities of hackers.

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Vladimir Putin’s spokesman also said that "Russia had been consistently standing for the fight against cyber-crimes and kept inviting other countries for cooperation in this sphere."

"We have voiced this position on behalf of Russia on numerous occasions," Peskov said.

An anonymous group of hackers posted information on their website Fancybears.net on Tuesday about hacking personal medical histories of athletes from the United States and the drugs they were prescribed in recent years, which were on WADA’s restricted list.

They group announced the hacking of the database of ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration & Management System) and leaked documents proving that WADA found an official loophole to sanction the use of banned performance enhancing drugs by US legendary tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams, US four-time Olympic Champion in gymnastics Simone Biles, as well as North American women’s basketball player Elena Dolle Donne.

WADA Director General Olivier Niggli issued a hasty response on the matter on Tuesday night calling the cyber-attack a criminal act on behalf of Russia and saying that "WADA has been informed by law enforcement authorities that these attacks are originating out of Russia."

Amid the most recent developments, the hackers from the very same web source came up on Wednesday night with another batch of revealing information. They posted documents exposing the fact that the global anti-doping agency WADA favored the consumption of banned drugs by 25 more athletes from eight countries.

Among the athletes in the newly-published list of 25 alleged doping abusers, the Fancybears.net website sheds light on 14 medal winners from the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil, including Russian boxer Misha Aloyan, who won the Rio silver last month in men’s under-52 kg category.

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Foreign policy Doping scandal in Russian sports

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