Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko fired back on news that Department of Justice has launched a probe into doping allegations made against his country, telling a state-run news agency on Wednesday that investigators may first want to start within the US borders.
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The U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York is taking on the case, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Prosecutors are looking at potential fraud and money-laundering charges, according to Daily News sources. This comes after the Russian sports minister penned an article apologizing in behalf of those involved.
It would also be sent to the International Association of Athletics Federations which has to take a decision on whether to lift a suspension on Russia’s track and field federation.
The program reported Rodchenkov as saying that a minimum of four Russian athletes had won gold medals in Sochi while on steroids, and that his lab had covered it up.
The senator, Vadim Tyulpanov, suggested in a draft law that the officials responsible for monitoring the anti-doping rules in sports could face up to 200,000 rubles in fines and up to one year of correction labor or one year of limited personal freedom.
Speaking on Wednesday to the state news agency Tass, Mutkov said Russian Federation was ready to help create such a system.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) yesterday vowed to fully investigate allegations against Russian Federation of a vast state-run doping program during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Pilot Alexander Zubkovof Russia team 1 celebrates winning the gold medal during the Men’s Four-Man Bobsleigh on Day 16 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Sliding Center Sanki on February 23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko acknowledged that Russia has a problem with doping, and said Russia was “ashamed” in a column for the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
“There were also observers from the World Anti-Doping Agency at every testing station”.
It remains to be seen whether Russian athletes will be cleared to compete in Rio, but Mutko – who has denied state involvement in a cover-up – believes it would be wrong to punish clean competitors for the actions of others.
“We will do everything humanly possible to ensure our athletes are a part of clean, fair and enthralling Games”, he pleaded ahead of the IAAF’s crunch meeting to determine Russia’s Rio fate on June 17.
“The aim is to stop any drugs cheats coming to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro”, said an IOC statement.
International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates says the most recent positive doping results from the 2008 Beijing Olympics proves “if we don’t get you at the games, we will get you later”.
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“We thank the International Olympic Committee for committing to full cooperation with the investigation; particularly, as it relates to the Sochi Games samples, ” said Reedie.
