MOSCOW (AP) – The Russian government has begun fighting accusations that the country operated a vast state-sponsored doping program, even as the first punishment was handed down.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says the allegations detailed in the World Anti-Doping Agency commission’s report “appear rather unfounded” and are not supported by evidence.
WADA revoked the accreditation of the country’s anti-doping test laboratory in Moscow on Tuesday, a recommendation made in Monday’s report. That blocks all testing of samples, which will now be transported to another WADA-accredited lab outside Russia.
Russian anti-doping agency executive director Nikita Kamaev says the lab has shut down but says his agency is still operational.