“It’s necessary to clear any doubts”, Putin said at a news conference in Sochi, where he hosted a summit of Russian Federation and ASEAN countries.
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Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative agency, said Friday it would like to question Rodchenkov about his claims, which he described as part of a US campaign to “discredit our country, paint it in black”.
“Sports must be free of doping, it must be honest, there must be honest competition”, Putin said.
“60 Minutes” also aired a report last week with a whistleblower who said he sent 200 emails and 50 letters about Russian doping to WADA, but was told the agency didn’t have the power to investigate inside the country. “If there are any doubts, then they need to be excluded”.
Vladimir Putin welcomed an investigation into Russian doping on Friday and said the country is ready to offer full assistance to the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Athletics’ worldwide governing body, the IAAF, provisionally suspended Russia in November over a bombshell report by WADA independent commission that found evidence of state-sponsored doping and mass corruption in Russian athletics.
Officials in Moscow have said they feel Russian sport is being unfairly singled out to punish Russia for its standoffs with the West over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that the Russian national team could be banned from participating in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro if allegations of a state-run doping scheme are verified, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.
Russian track-and-field competitors are now barred from taking part in the Rio games because of earlier allegations about doping in their sport.
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The IAAF will rule on Russia’s participation at the Rio Games at an extraordinary Council meeting in Vienna next month.
