WADA Russia ban is likely political in nature, violates intl law – Putin

The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) decision to ban Russia from international sports for four years is most likely political, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

WADA has imposed collective punishment against all Russian athletes twice over the same violation as they were already forced to compete under the neutral flag at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the president told journalists during a press conference in Moscow.

It is not only unfair but it also defies common sense and international law.

The president also said that any punishment for doping should be focus on the individual concerned and should not affect clean athletes. “Sadly, the decision is most likely political in nature,” he added.

WADA’s sanctions, which include a ban on Russia being represented as a nation at the Olympic Games, relate to an alleged manipulation of raw data handed over to the international agency by RUSADA, the Russian doping watchdog, as part of its reinstatement process. Moscow repeatedly called this decision “politically biased” and rooted in the “anti-Russian hysteria” that has become “chronic,” as the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev put it.

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