Wada warn Russia they remain ‘noncompliant’

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said yesterday Russia remains “non-compliant” with its Code, the core document, dealing a major blow to the country’s hopes of being cleared to compete at February’s Winter Olympics.

Russia’s anti-doping agency (Rusada) has been suspended since a 2015 Wada report found evidence of state-sponsored doping and accused it of systematically violating anti-doping regulations.

Wada set out a roadmap for Russia to regain its status but at a meeting of its Foundation Board in Seoul yesterday they decided that key criteria had not been met.

Craig Reedie, the Wada President, said the Board approved the recommendation by the Independent Compliance Review Committee that Rusada remain non-compliant as two requirements for reinstatement had still not been fulfilled.

“Having set a road map for compliance, there are two issues that have to be fulfilled and we can’t walk away from the commitments,” Reedie said, adding that Rusada has made improvements.

Kuwait, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritius had also been found non-compliant by the Board, it added.

The decision is likely to add more pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Russian athletes from the 2018 Winter Games.

The Kremlin slammed Wada’s decision as unfair, insisting Russia did not have a state-sponsored doping programme. “We do not agree with such a decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“We consider it unfair and we have denied and categorically deny accusations that the use of doping had state support. This is out of the question.”

Russia escaped a blanket ban at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but remains barred from competing in international athletics events.

Yuri Ganus, director general of Rusada, said the agency had done everything it could to be reinstated apart from two criteria that had not been met and were out of its control.

“We fulfilled all the criteria that depended on us,” Ganussaid. “There were two points that were beyond our prerogatives. Unfortunately they were not fulfilled.”

He did not say what they were specifically but Russian authorities have so far refused to acknowledge the findings of the 2015 report of state-backed, systematic doping. Russia has also not released stored samples from its Moscow lab.

The IOC will make a final decision at its executive board meeting on December 5-7.

“The decision of the IOC Executive Board ... will take all the circumstances, including all the measures to ensure a level-playing field at the Olympic Winter Games 2018, into consideration when it decides on the participation of the Russian athletes in Pyeongchang,” an IOC spokesperson said.