MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. Russia speaks for the establishment of unified doping control requirements and wants the system’s procedures to be open and transparent for everyone, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.
Putin said almost every country encountered the problem of doping abuse in sports, however, athletes from various countries are treated differently in this sphere.
"I am confident that in order to fight the doping abuse effectively and not selectively we need to work out unified international doping control standards," Putin said. "Undoubtedly, all athletes and sports fans should be granted open access to all doping inspections, including how, when and who carried out the inspection and what were the results."
The Russian president said that the world’s modern sports society should exclude all possibilities allowing manipulations of athletes, as well as biased approaches and means for "political manipulations."
"I am sure that only Russia, but the rest of the sports world is interested in it," Putin added.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission, chaired by Canadian law professor, Richard McLaren, released a report on July 18 on the results of its probe into the accusations of doping and manipulation of tests by Russian athletes and officials at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
According to the details, the commission claimed it had found evidence that Russia’s Sports Ministry and the Center for the Training of Russian National Teams and the Federal Security Service had covered up a doping program in Russian sports.
The report from WADA’s Commission stated in particular that the commission’s investigation registered a total of 643 cases of Disappearing Positive Test Results in Russia between 2012 and 2015 involving athletes from 30 sports.
Following the commission’s report last week, WADA recommended the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and all international sports federations ban Russian athletes from all international sports competitions, including Rio 2016.
After a conference call by its Executive Board on July 24, the IOC urged international federations for winter sports events to suspend preparations for major competitions in Russia. The motion will be in effect until December 31, 2016 and may be reviewed at a December session of the IOC Executive Board.
IOC President Thomas Bach, however, announced on Sunday that Russian athletes, with the exception of field and track competitors, were allowed to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics based on individual approval of each respective international sports federation or association.
His statement followed last Sunday’s teleconference of the IOC Executive Board, which, however, ruled than no Russian athlete, who had been previously sanctioned for doping would be allowed to take part in the Rio Olympics, even if they have served the sanction as well as any athlete mentioned in the McLaren report.