Russia sports minister: USA should probe USA
Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, fired back on news that the Department of Justice has launched a probe into doping allegations made against his country, telling a state-run news agency Wednesday that investigators might want to start within the U.S. borders.
“We are puzzled that the U.S. Justice (Department) decided to probe Russia namely,” he told TASS. “There are enough violations of anti-doping rules around the world, and they can all be probed. We would like to see the United States probing its own national team. The atmosphere there is far from being cloudless.”
The New York Times reported this week that the Department of Justice has launched an inquiry into the latest slough of doping allegations made against Russia, an investigation similar to the one the feds have led against soccer world governing body FIFA that has resulted in several indictments.
“This of course was not unexpected for us,” said Mutko, whose country has been accused of bribing FIFA officials to land the 2018 World Cup. “Similar investigations are underway in regard to (soccer) and are boldly labeled with money laundering during the bidding process for the (FIFA) World Cup. This was not something new to us.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service allegedly manipulated samples in the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the country’s athletes — including at least 15 medal winners — were encouraged to use performance-enhancing drugs. The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that it had tapped the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigative the claims made in reports by 60 Minutes and The New York Times.
IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters on a conference call Wednesday that IOC officials had no information on the status of the DOJ investigation.
“I don’t even know about what it is,” Bach said when asked if the IOC planned to cooperate. “I don’t know about any legal grounds for this. ... I cannot comment about something I do not know.”
An independent WADA investigation released in November found that Russia’s track and field federation led a state-sponsored doping effort. The report led the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to ban the federation, putting its participation in the Rio Games in doubt.