Also discussed were new attempts to discredit Russian athletes. According to Vladimir Putin, these attempts have political underpinnings. Aleksandr Balitskiy reports from Chelyabinsk.
In the city with strong sports traditions, Putin is asked to comment on the situation with doping scandals. What if the best Russian athletes really won't be allowed to take part in the Winter Olympics in South Korea? Putin believes that Russia itself is interested in fighting doping, and it's doing everything to make sports fair and clean. All scandals are provoked.
Vladimir Putin: "I'm sure you know that the Olympics will take place in February. And when do we have the presidential election?
- In March.
Vladimir Putin: “So we seriously suspect that all of this is done intentionally. Someone wants to create a right atmosphere, to spread frustration among sports fans and athletes with the fact that the state was allegedly involved in the violations and is responsible for this. Today, international sports organizations, including the IOC, very much depend on a lot of parties, first of all on sponsors, then also on television rights buyers, on advertisers, and so on. It's a huge layer of links and connections. And the controlling interest is held by the United States. That's the base for the biggest companies paying for television rights, for major sponsors, for major advertisers, and so on. That's why we have a strong suspicion that in response to our alleged interference in their election, they want to create problems with the election of the Russian president. If that's true, it's very bad, because it undermines the whole purpose of the Olympic movement".
Even the last scandal with doping tests, where the test tubes were allegedly damaged, was built on nothing, reminded Putin. The laboratory in Lausanne officially accepted all the samples right after the Olympics in Sochi. And there were no objections at the time.
Aleksandr Balitskiy, Vasiliy Urchuk, Aleksey Sysoev, Petr Avnov, Irina Kharlamova, Vesti from Chelyabinsk.
