Deputy Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh said the ex-official might hold a grudge against the Russian anti-doping system, and that he might be dissatisfied with his current position or have unrealized creative ambitions.
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Reedie said the New York Times and 60 Minutes allegations would be investigated by a panel headed by Mathieu Holz, a former Interpol Agent.
The New York Times published an interview last week with the ex-head of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov who claimed that the Russian sports authorities had allegedly prepared a special doping programme for national athletes in order to win most of the medals at the home Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
On May 15, Russia’s sports minister apologized for his country’s deepening doping scandal and pleaded for Russia’s athletes to be allowed to compete in the upcoming 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“We’ll take a decision [on legal action] today or tomorrow after the legal service of the Sports Ministry makes a conclusion”, Mutko told Russia’s official news agency TASS.
“Such a task has already been assigned to it and several law firms have been involved in the effort”.
Prosecutors are reportedly seeking fraud and conspiracy charges in the case, which is the most significant action involving Russian doping to date.
Mutko also said in his penned article that they are restructuring Russia’s anti-doping agency and that the organization is taking a series of steps to demonstrate how committed they are to ensuring that the sport in their country is clean and fair.
“There is nothing surprising for me about it”, Mutko has said.
The committee has also called on the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) to provide all-embracing cooperation in WADA’s (the World Anti-Doping Agency) new probe into doping allegations at 2014 Olympics in Sochi.
However, unlike the meldonium story, Rodchenkov’s claims were met with protest from Russian athletes, coaches and sports officials.
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“Serious mistakes have been made by the federation management, along with athletes and coaches who have broken anti-doping rules and neglected the principle of fair play, so fundamental to sport for immediate benefits”, Mutko wrote.
