"The victory of the Russian Olympians in Sochi will not be stolen," says Dmitry Peskov, the Press Secretary for the President of Russia. The interests of Russian athletes must be defended vigorously and aggressively. As a result of the work of the Oswald Anti-Doping Commission, the Russian team was deprived of the first place in the medal standings of the 2014 Olympics. Russian football players may become the next target. It's the goal of the ex-head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory that fled to the US, Grigory Rodchenkov, the main informant for WADA. This is despite the fact that his laboratory didn't even check players.
Reporting, Dmitry Petrov.
There are 34 names in the list published on the Internet mainly the players of our team who played at the World Championship in Brazil. Defector Rodchenkov threatens to provide FIFA with proof of the doping use by Russians not under direct investigation as of yet. There were no reported positive test results in 2014.
The issue first came up in June. But then, FIFA made an official comment.
Briefly: "We found nothing but must check again". It's been five months, and no additional details have surfaced. Moreover, the Russian athletes were proven to be clean at the Confederations Cup. But Rodchenkov decided to make some noise to try and maintain the public interest. Two players' tests have allegedly revealed traces of marijuana. And the third admitted that he's been injected with dexamethasone.
Vyacheslav Koloskov, president of Russian Football Union: "Rodchenkov has nothing to do with the doping tests conducted by FIFA. They've got their own regulations their own doping-officers their own strict program. That's an independent autonomous organization".
Meanwhile, our Confederations Cup was cited as an example of an impeccable organizer of competitions on a global scale by the FIFA officials.
Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA: "All the players, both during the tournament and in the out-of-competition period, will go through the required tests in this respect, the terms of a fair game will be respected".
Although, the rule doesn't seem to apply to international organizations. IAAF has just extended the suspension of the Russian athletes. This automatically deprives us of our right to compete in international competitions under the Russian flag. The charges are, once again, extremely vague: "the reinstatement conditions haven't been met."
Dmitry Shlyakhtin, president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation: "We were ready for their decision. We'll try to create an alternative competition by 2018. We will support the athletes willing to participate".
It's clearly obvious that sport has nothing to do with what is going on.
Valery Gazzayev, Honored Coach of Russia, MP: "Politics, competition, and sport all have been thrown into the same basket. They are trying to put pressure on our country".
Evgeny Lovchev, Honored Master of Sports: I was sure it would turn out like that: The Americans go into the finals and say: "We're not participating, England isn't as well". And the Americans didn't even get this far. Which means that they have to do something, create a controversy".
Understanding the futility of the attempt, Rodchenkov's lawyer complained that "FIFA will not physically manage to move the 2018 World Championship away from Russia." That's what they wanted — to deprive us of our Championship. But in Russia the stadiums are being completed. And this is "Luzhniki", the main arena of the future World Cup. A great stadium. We've recently met the national team of Argentina here and successfully passed the test. Preparation for the World Cup has almost come to the finish line and nothing can stop it now.
Dmitry Petrov, Viktor Prikhodko, and Anton Kosimovich. Vesti.
