There is a desire to force us into constant defense: Lavrov weighs in on possible WADA ban for Russian athletes

Russia’s foreign minister has spoken out about a possible ban for the country’s athletes from international competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), reminding that Moscow is nowadays blamed for nearly everything.

Sergey Lavrov made his statement shortly after the Kremlin announced it has no plans to hold a discussion with the leaders of Russia’s athletic federations on a possible four-year ban from WADA.

The Compliance Review Committee (CRC) of the world doping watchdog has recommended the suspension over alleged tampering with data of the Russian national anti-doping agency.

WADA’s leadership is to take a decision on how to proceed on December 9. Some Russian media reported that a high-level meeting of Russian sports officials will be gathered at the Kremlin to discuss the case. But Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian president’s office, told journalists on Tuesday that the reports were not true.

Giving his take, Lavrov said the case once again fits the narrative where Russia is to blame for all sorts of things.

The country “gets accused of something in every aspect of internarial live, be it conflicts, economics, energy or gas pipelines,” he argued.

Everywhere Russia is said to be in violation of something or doing something that one or several Western nations find detrimental to their interest.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it will support “the toughest sanctions” against any person found responsible for manipulating the Russia data, but will need further evaluation before deciding on its course of action. However, the IOC supported WADA’s suggestion that clean Russian athletes should be allowed to compete if they demonstrate they are personally “not implicated in any way by the non-compliance.”

The handover of the data of RUSADA, the Russian anti-doping agency, was a key demand for its provisional reinstatement as a WADA-accredited body. The Russian watchdog was suspended over an allegation that the Russian government operated a secretive doping program to enhance the results of its athletes. Moscow never acknowledged state sponsored doping, but indeed admitted irregularities and agreed to follow WADA instructions to be readmitted into international competitions.

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