© AFP / Brendan Smialowski
Russia has been handed a four-year ban from major sporting events, including the Olympics and football World Cup, after the Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) approved sanctions on Monday.
Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, the 12-member WADA Executive Committee
voted unanimously for measures against Russia earlier recommended by the organization's Compliance Committee.
The move comes after Russia was alleged to have manipulated data provided to WADA from a Moscow anti-doping laboratory in January, which Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) chief Yuri Ganus later agreed to be true. The data was handed over as part of the reinstatement terms for RUSADA after a three-year exile over claims of state-sponsored doping, which Russia has consistently denied.
Comment: There has been a swift, negative reaction immediately after news broke across the Russian sports landscape. Russian high jump world champion Maria Lasitskene
remarked that what happened was a "disgrace." Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov made it
clear that they will challenge the WADA decision with the top international sports court and points out that the WADA decision contradicts the IOC charter:
"The decision from WADA is contrary to the IOC [International Olympic Committee] Charter. Sanctions against members of the Russian Olympic Committee and sanctions against the flag and anthem.
"The charter clearly states that athletes perform under the flag of their country. There are no sanctions for the ROC [Russian Olympic Committee], so the issue is for consideration by CAS."
The relative good news is that Russian athletes are
not banned from competing, they just cannot wear the Russian flag or play the anthem at the medal ceremony. That seems to be the main purpose behind the ban. It's not that the players are cheating, there is no evidence and if there were, they athletes themselves would be banned. No, the West clearly wants to remove all Russian insignia and culture from international sporting events and this is their way to do that. It's actually quite sad and pathetic, since this is the only place where the US-led consortium conspiring against Russia can actually beat the Russians. No longer able to compete in international diplomacy and areas of military conflict, they react like a 10-year-old who got beat by their little brother.
Ice hockey legend Viacheslav Fetisov is
worried that the ban will destroy Russian sport and take years to recover from. That seems a little hyperbolic. The Russians are resilient and smart, they will survive just fine.
There is a bit of a silver lining, as WADA
admits that the ruling could be overturned if Russia submits "full and untampered data." Don't hold your breath there as the PTB that are holding WADA's puppet strings have no interest in fairness or truth.
FIFA is
confused why WADA is meddling in their sports event, as the decision over who plays in the most popular sporting event in the world does not fall within WADA's jurisdiction. But since the plan is to erase Russia from international sports, WADA is flexing its muscles and obviously attempting to force FIFA to fall in line. Considering Russia's hosting of the 2018 was universally commended and spectators came away from Sochi singing Russia's praises, this should not be a surprise but again reveals the pettiness of the West.
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev made it clear what is going on by
calling the decision an example of ant-Russian hysteria in the West:
"The fact that such decisions are taken repeatedly - and often in relation to the athletes who have already been punished one way or another - suggests that this is the continuation of the anti-Russian hysteria, which has already got into a chronic form."
An international sports lawyer, Dr. Lucien W. Valloni,
remarked that he hoped there would be a much more balanced handling of the case than what happened previously
"We can only hope that this time the report is more balanced. But the last time it was not like that. It was a procedure where even witnesses from Russia were not heard.
"What I fear is that innocent athletes will have to live with a very bad decision in the end."
The IOC allowed Russia to compete at the 2016 Olympics, but the paralympics association issued a blanket ban on Russian competitors, which Valloni called "absolutely a catastrophe."
"This was against human rights, to [impose a] collective punishment without proving that a single athlete had made a mistake"
UPDATE: Wednesday 11th December 2019 @ 12:00 CETPutin reiterates Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov's comment that the WADA ban
contradicts the Olympic charter.
And, further, that Russia has "all legal grounds" to appeal what amounts to "political bias" and "collective punishment":
"The key thing, and everyone is in agreement here, any punishment has to be individual, has to be targeted based on what a particular individual has done. We can't have collective punishment," Putin continued.
"We cannot punish people who have nothing to do whatsoever with violations."
Russia's Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov
questions how the committee could accept fugitive doctor Rodchenkov's 'inherenly unreliable' data, considering its source is undisclosed and was likely stolen:
"Moscow laboratory data was constantly renewed and corrected, this is not a secret," Kolobkov said.
"But I think it's impossible to compare it with data provided by Rodchenkov. Because this data is illegal! It was created and provided by some unknown and unreliable source. All accusations against Russia were based on the Rodchenkov data. Can you imagine a criminal or civil proceedings being opened on the basis of a stolen data? Where was it taken from? It's absolutely unclear. Why is it taken as an uncontestable model? It's also unclear," he added.
"The Russian Investigative Committee asked (WADA) to present all the necessary information regarding the Rodchenkov data and why it is regarded as authentic. We still haven't received any answers," the sports minister said.
President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov has
vowed to do everything in his power to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Japan games under the national flag despite the ban "as it is mentioned in the Olympic Charter":
The four-time Olympic champion Pozdnyakov called WADA's restrictions "inadequate and illogical," underlining that Russian authorities will fight for the right of the athletes to compete under the national flag.
"WADA's recommendations and final report don't contain any [doping] accusations addressed to the ROC or Russian Paralympic Committee [RPK]. Despite this, rulings of the WADA Executive Committee infringe on the rights of the Russian sports organizations," he added.
Olympic medalist, six-time world champion swimmer, Yulia Efimova, has spoken out
highlighting that similar harsh measures have not been applied in similar cases:
"Right after my race at the Rio Games, I said that this doping controversy was not over, it was just the beginning, and we would have problems in the future," Efimova told RT.
"It was quite clear. And with every new year the situation is only getting worse and worse. Our athletes were not allowed to compete under the national flag at the 2018 Winter Games. The entire country was banned. Now the sanctions have become even tougher with a four-year ban being imposed."
Efimova, who had sat out a two-year doping disqualification, was initially banned from performing in Rio before winning an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which allowed her to take part in the major summer sports contest.
When asked what she would do if she is again denied a chance to participate in the Olympics due to her doping-marred sports record, Efimova said she will again address the issue in the court.
"I will behave in a similar way. I have already hired a lawyer. There is a rule that a person can't be punished twice for the same offence. If you violate a driving code or instigated a brawl you will not be punished twice for that. I hope it will work, but I cannot be sure of (a positive outcome)."
"If you introduce those rules, they must be applied to all athletes. Yes, long ago I made a doping violation and I was disqualified for almost two years. But there are a great number of US and European athletes who have a similar situation regarding doping and they are competing without any restrictions. If you want to introduce those regulations, they must be equally applied to all athletes, not only Russian competitors," the three time Olympic medalist said.
"Yes, I really think it's more politics. For me, I can see they approve athletes but with a neutral flag," Efimova said. "But they don't approve any athletes, even young and clean, to represent [the] Russian Federation. [They don't want to] see a Russian flag at the competitions. I think it's pretty clear."
Comment: For more on the numerous ways in which imperial propaganda tool Bellingcat lies - and has actually gotten caught out on them, see: