Russian Minister of Sports: Russia may stop funding World Anti-Doping Agency
Russia may stop financing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) if the organization will not restore the rights of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) in the near future, the Minister of Sport, Vitaly Mutko, said in an interview with P-Sport.
"WADA is your system. The laboratory and RUSADA are your organizations. There are foreign experts working at RUSADA and we pay a huge amount of money," Mutko said.
In November 2015, WADA published a report regarding testing fraud at the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow. Investigators from the Agency called the use of drugs in Russian sports “a culture supported by the government."
After that, the activity of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory RUSADA was suspended and all the top leadership of the Agency was dismissed.
In July 2016, WADA published another report on doping fraud in Russian sports, which, according to the Agency, involved the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). Thereafter, the International Olympic Committee and the Sports Federations suspended about 100 Russian athletes from participation in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.