Russia taking necessary steps to swiftly restore anti-doping system - ROC chief
MOSCOW. March 9 (Interfax) - Russia is keen to promptly restore its anti-doping system and is doing whatever is necessary for that, according to Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee and First Deputy Speaker of the State Duma.
"The sooner Russia restores its anti-doping system, the better," Zhukov told journalists on Thursday.
All necessary steps are being taken to achieve this, he said.
Currently, foreign laboratories take doping samples, and these are "far fewer than what we need in Russia," Zhukov said.
Last year they took about 3,000 doping samples and expect to take about 6,000 this year, but the Russian anti-doping agency's laboratory has the capacity to take no less than 20,000 samples, Zhukov said.
This is "very important in the cause of fighting doping," he said.