MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) collected 825 doping samples of Russian athletes last month or over 30% more compared to January 2018, RUSADA Deputy Director Margarita Pakhnotskaya told TASS on Tuesday.

"RUSADA inspectors collected 825 doping samples in January compared to 605 in the same month last year," Pakhnotskaya said in an interview with TASS. "As you can see, the difference is significant and amounts to an over 30% increase."

"Late last year we stated our intentions to increase the number of doping inspections and we keep our word," Pakhnotskaya said. "The amount of target doping tests slightly exceeds the half of all collected samples."

"In the first month of this year, we have received ten applications from athletes for TUE [Therapeutic Use Exemption] permits for medicines containing prohibited substances," she said.

"We have also registered 28 violations of accessibility regulations - 18 cases of missed testing due to athlete’s absence in the location stated in the ADAMS system and 10 cases of missed testing due to a failure to provide information about the whereabouts," Pakhnotskaya stated.

The RUSADA deputy director general also said that Russia’s governing anti-doping body conducted a total of eight educational programs in January, providing special training to 504 specialists.