WADA has gone beyond scope of sport in its work - Mutko
MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) - The world anti-doping system can hardly cope with its duties now and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) starts to deal with some issues beyond the scope of sport, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told Interfax on Tuesday.
"The global anti-doping system is imperfect and the whole world is waking up to this [fact]. I believe that the WADA is already getting lifted clear of a certain situation in the world of sports and makes some estimates, particularly with regard to certain states, demanding that somebody is appointed and somebody is sacked [...] This kind of activities clearly goes beyond the scope of sport. Everyone would be expected to occupy their own niche and fulfill their duties in good faith," Mutko said.
Mutko went on to make the assumption that the WADA wants to take the spotlight by bringing accusations against Russia, "that builds laboratories, assigns money for doping control, spending millions of dollars on it". "What is the point of it all then? [...] No one in Russia has ever concealed that we punish 200 people annually [for doping] - more than anywhere else in the world," Mutko said.
"The WADA used to manage both [the Moscow Anti-Doping] Laboratory and RUSADA [the Russian Anti-Doping Agency]. It used to be releasing standards for them and controlling them. They conducted a selection of 'blind' samples; they used anonymous informants and surprise testing; international experts have always been present at sports competitions [...] but all of this is put aside now," Mutko said.
Yesterday, the WADA called on the Russian authorities to dismiss Mutko following the publication of a report by an independent team on doping in Russian sports.