Moscow considering sanctions against persons involved in barring Russian national team from PyeongChang Games - newspaper
MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Moscow will hold responsible a number of officials of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and impose restrictive measures on them after the Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, the newspaper Izvestia said on Monday, citing the chair of the Federation Council's commission on the protection of the state sovereignty and the prevention of interference in Russian internal affairs, Andrei Klimov, as saying.
"According to him [Klimov], people behind the barring of the Russian national team from the Games in South Korea are being identified. Two informed parliament sources told Izvestia it could be the matter of 'up to ten persons', some of whom are not the Agency's officers. In addition, a representative of the Federation Council told Izvestia the house would look into the possible involvement of the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the WADA decision," the newspaper said.
Klimov told Izvestia it was decided to hold liable persons behind the barring of the Russian national team from the PyeongChang Games at a meeting of parliamentarians, athletes, and diplomats on December 12, 2017.
"We should expose persons who used the WADA and pushed for barring our national team behind the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s back. We have set this task, and we are pursuing it on the basis of verified facts," Izvestia cited Klimov as saying.
Two informed parliament sources who participated in the December 12 meeting told the newspaper that individual measures were possible, for instance criminal and other charges and restrictions on visiting Russia. These are both WADA officials and persons "engaged in the activity, which led to the unfair barring of the national team from the Olympic Games, one way or another," the sources said.