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US’ Rodchenkov Act meant to make up for sports failures - Russian diplomat

Maria Zakharova noted that the United States has got accustomed in the recent decades to dominate in many spheres

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

ULAN-UDE, December 6. /TASS/. The so-called Rodchenkov Act is obviously meant to make up for the US’ failures in sports, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

Sport, in her words, is part of international relations. Moreover, it is a source of national pride and a subject of business interests. "How can they explain that being the leaders, which they have been trumpeting around the world of, they have no wins in their traditional sports disciplines? This fact should be explained somehow. And it can be quite easily explained: they dwell about awful Russia, about global conspiracy, doping networks enmeshing everyone. This act, as a matter of fact, has exposed their real interests," she said in an interview with the Fetison program on the Zvezda television channel.

"Why has this problem emerged? I think because the United States has got accustomed in the recent decades to dominate in many spheres. Sport is an image of a country. Sport is the quintessence of achievements in a number of spheres. And they cannot admit that they can no longer compete under common rules. It runs counter to their internal ideology," she said, adding that the United States obviously hates to "recognize its defeat or failure."

"This is how it al works with them. So, they simply either withdraw from the existing rules and norms, or rewrite them as they like, or invent another virtual reality and compel the others accept it as a real one," Zakharova noted.

The so-called Rodchenkov Act, which was signed by US President Donald Trump on Sunday and named after Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, empowers the United States to prosecute individuals for violating anti-doping rules around the world. It will be applicable to any competitions held in compliance with the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) where Americans take part. However, professional North American leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) won’t be targeted by this law because they are not regulated by the WADA Code.

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