Kremlin Rejects RUSADA Plea for Putin Intervention

The Kremlin rejected on Friday a call by the head of the country's anti-doping agency (RUSADA) for President Vladimir Putin to intervene in the latest stand-off with WADA.

RUSADA chief Yury Ganus asked Putin on Thursday to give the World Anti-Doping Agency access to a laboratory at the center of a drug scandal, saying that Russia was facing new sanctions and "on the brink the abyss.".

However, the Kremlin said that RUSADA's concerns about new sanctions were "without foundation."

"The director (of RUSADA) is unfortunately not fully aware of the work in progress between the Russian representatives and those of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who have come to Moscow," the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"He just does not know the details. Many of the concerns he has raised are without foundation."

"We understand that the question arises as to how and under what regime this cooperation (between WADA and Russia) will continue and how soon it will be finalized," said Peskov, without adding further details.

In September, WADA lifted a ban on RUSADA, paving the way for Russian athletes to return to competition across all sports after a report which uncovered a state-sponsored doping program in Russia.

The ban was lifted in return for a set of conditions including facilitating access to dope test data from the laboratory by December 31, 2018.

WADA experts travelled to Russia last week but were unable to extract fully the data from the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, prompting the open letter from Ganus to Putin.

"We are on the brink of the abyss and I ask you to protect the present and future of clean sport, the present and future generations of athletes," said Ganus.

WADA said at the time its team could not complete its mission "due to an issue raised by the Russian authorities that the team's equipment to be used for the data extraction was required to be certified under Russian law."

Ganus said that if RUSADA gets suspended again, Russian athletes would not be allowed to take part in international competitions and Russia would lose the right to host international sporting events.