New Russia drugs scandal
Star named in hosts’ initial World Cup squad, but why have FIFA done nothing?
FIFA and World Cup hosts Russia are plunged into fresh doping turmoil today, as The Mail on Sunday reveal new evidence of state-sponsored doping and cover- ups the world governing body have buried.
The incredible details include new information about how Russia’s Sports Ministry covered up the positive test of one of the players initially named in their World Cup squad and then swapped his tainted urine for a clean sample.
This comes as fans around the world, including Russia, have renewed doubts about the trustworthiness of the national team following their recordbreaking start to this World Cup.
We can reveal that FIFA had documentary proof of institutional cover-ups in Russian football 18 months ago—but have apparently done nothing to hold Russia’s FA or Sports Ministry to account.
The scale of the corruption was huge, with investigators saying 155 Russian football doping cases they uncovered were the ‘ tip of the iceberg’ and at least 34 of those produced paperwork, testimony and other corroboration they felt would give FIFA a good chance of formal disciplinary proceedings.
FIFA claim they have been actively looking at the issue for more than a year. But they have yet to prosecute a single case, publicly at least, issuing only bland statements that investigations are ongoing. Richard Pound, the former head of the World Anti- Doping Agency ( WADA), believes it is ‘obvious’ why, telling The Mail on Sunday: ‘They have the matter of billions of dollars at stake in having a hassle-free World Cup.’
Russia go into their third Group A match tomorrow with two wins and eight goals from two games, or the best start by tournament hosts ever, having not won for almost a year. The fact that their players combined have also run further in their two games than any nation — 143 miles (230km) — has left fans questioning their performances.
FIFA announced before the event began that there was ‘insufficient’ evidence to prosecute any of the current 23-man squad for doping violations. Yet Russia’s stunning sporting performances are happening against a backdrop of fresh concerns about the nation’s sporting integrity and FIFA’s inaction on Russian doping, as The Mail on Sunday can reveal:
There is strong evidence that elite Russian footballers were beneficiaries of widespread statesponsored doping and cover-ups, and were part of the scandal that shamed Russia and got t hem banned from the Olympics;
One case involved Russia international Ruslan Kambolov, who failed a drugs test for a banned – steroid in May 2015, but had his case covered up and, until last month, was in Russia’s World Cup squad;
There is email evidence, backed up by diary evidence and oral evidence from former Moscow antidoping lab boss turned whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, that Kambolov’s test failure was covered up then made to ‘disappear’ on the orders of Russia’s sports ministry;
Kambolov does not even deny he tested positive for a steroid — dexamethasone — but his lawyer says he was allowed to take it out of competition. Yet documentary evidence shows his tainted sample was swapped by Russian intelligence forces for the clean urine of another sportsman from a different sport, which itself is an infringement;
FIFA did not know about that case or dozens of alleged others when they happened because Russia covered them up. FIFA only found out after WADA-appointed investigators gathered evidence.
Kambolov’s case is just one of at least 34 alleged Russian football ‘dope conspiracy’ cases FIFA have since learned about but have been sitting on for 18 months; 23 of them involved Russia’s 2014 World Cup squad, as first detailed a year ago by The Mail on Sunday.
FIFA continue to refuse to disclose any details of the case, or the identities of the individuals undertaking their ‘ investigation’ into the matter, or explain with any detail how that has unfolded or when it will conclude.
Pound, the most respected figure in global anti-doping, believes FIFA have been worried that outing Russian doping in football would have discredited this World Cup. ‘ FI FA should have had something in place to give credibility to their investigation,’ he said. ‘If not an independent investigation then at least an independent party involved in some capacity. FIFA are a governing body who have never had any robust anti-do ping policy. Consultation [with WADA] is not the same as saying FIFA have adhered to WADA policy.’ Asked if he believes Russia have taken doping seriously, Pound said: ‘I see that the Sochi laboratory [where the doping corruption of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games took place] is now a restaurant and bar where the menu includes a Duchess Cocktail [named after a doping cocktail of drugs]. This doesn’t strike me as a place where the systematic doping is seen as serious. They literally treat it as a joke.’
During the most notorious years of the recent Russian pan- sport doping scandal, both the Russian FA and Sports Ministry were headed by former FIFA executive committee member Vitaly Mutko, who also headed Russia’s World Cup organising committee.
The Kambolov case is hugely significant because it ends any debate that football as a sport benefited from Russia’s notorious scam — or that FIFA knew that but still judged Russia fit to host this World Cup.
At the height of the scam that corrupted the So chi Games, Russian elite athletes were routinely asked to provide clean urine to Rodchenkov’s lab in case they tested positive for the drugs they were being given. Dirty urine would be swapped for their clean urine and their failed tests would disappear. Russia built up a ‘clean urine bank’ of more than 10,000 samples for this purpose.
By 2015, when Kambolov was busted for steroids, Russia was under intense scrutiny for doping so Russian sportspeople were no longer being asked to illegally ‘ bank’ clean urine in case they failed tests.
‘ There was no clean urine for Kambolov,’ said Prof Richard McLaren, a WA D A-appointed investigator who conducted a probe that pieced together evidence of the doping scam. ‘So in his case, his dirty urine was replaced by clean urine from another athlete who had banked clean urine and whose urine profile most closely matched his.’ The Mail on Sunday has obtained documents showing Kambolov’s urine most closely matched a modern pentathlete who had ‘ banked’ clean urine. Kambolov tested positive in the last week of May 2015 and the urine switch was performed in the second week of June that year by a team run by Evgeny Blokhin, a Russian FSB agent ( former KGB), who also masterminded the Sochi doping manipulations for Russia.
Documents gathered by McLaren’s team detail the urine swap, as do Rodchenkov’s diaries and 2018 testimony, written and oral. All this evidence was available to FIFA, who have apparently secretly ‘cleared’ Kambolov of all charges personally.
Kambolovwaswi th drawn ‘injured’ from Russia’s World Cup squad last month, as FIFA were preparing a statement saying no 2018 squad member had been guilty of doping. ‘You have to draw your own conclusions why he was withdrawn but it seems clear to me,’ said McLaren.
McLaren met FIFA last year and talked them through the evidence he gathered. ‘Since then, I’ve heard nothing,’ he said. ‘I don’t know why they haven’t acted.’
FIFA declined to answer specific questions, repeating that they had ‘insufficient’ evidence to prosecute Russia players. FIFA added: ‘The opinions of Mr Pound and McLaren are uninformed in this case.’
The Russian FA, Sports Ministry and Mutko all failed to respond.
‘BILLIONS ARE AT STAKE IN HAVING A HASSLE-FREE WORLD CUP’