Mutko’s comments came as the governing body of swimming said Wednesday it is moving its doping test samples taken at the world championships in Russian Federation to the WADA-accredited lab in Barcelona.
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Putin’s comments at a late-night meeting in Sochi, the city that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics, reflected concerns that Russia’s track and field athletes could be hit with a blanket ban for next year’s summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Peskov added that Putin would be briefed and may hold another meeting on sports and doping issues later in the day, depending on how the weather conditions develop.
“We must carry out our own internal inquiry”, he said, telling sports officials to show “the most open and professional cooperation with global anti-doping authorities”.
The report said the samples were important evidence regarding allegations by former throwing disciplines coach Oleg Popov who had warned WADA of a scheme to swap positive samples for clean ones, involving 67 athletes.
“We must do everything in Russia to rid ourselves of this problem”, Putin said yesterday in footage shown on Russian television of the meeting – ironically called to discuss the country’s preparations for Rio 2016. However, Putin’s determination to press ahead with the session indicated the sensitivity of the issue for Russian Federation.
Track’s governing body is expected to rule Friday on whether to suspend Russian Federation from competition because of the doping scandal.
According to the Russian news agency R-Sport, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Russia was ready “to put a foreign specialist in charge of the laboratory, if that’s what’s needed”. It also said that six athletes were allowed to compete at the London Olympics after earlier anti-doping cases against them were slowed down.
Rodchenkov resigned on Tuesday.
In a statement it said it had asked the IAAF to start disciplinary action against athletes, coaches and officials who have taken part in the Olympics Games and are accused of doping in the WADA report.
He echoed a plea by Russia’s Olympic Committee not to sacrifice the dreams of clean competitors, saying there should not be collective punishment.
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“We have a proven track record”, said Bach.
