MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has penalized 218 Russian athletes, based on data and samples retrieved from the Moscow Laboratory (LIMS), the WADA press service reported.

Sixty-three more athletes have been charged. It is said that many more cases are still being actively pursued.

On May 18, WADA reported that 203 Russian athletes had been penalized based on data from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory.

The Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) kept track of athletes’ doping test results between 2012 and 2015. In January 2019, it handed this data over to WADA, whose experts concluded that it had been tampered with to cover up doping violations.

Russia insisted that it was not involved, eventually leading to a lawsuit. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Swiss city of Lausanne upheld WADA’s ruling, but only partially agreed with its package of sanctions imposed on Russian sports, which stayed in effect until December 2022.