MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) The Monday decision of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) with regard to Russia violates the Olympic charter and Russia has all reasons to go to court, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the Normandy Format talks in Paris.
"About WADA's decision and doping. Will Russia challenge this decision? First of all, we need to analyze this decision," Putin told journalists.
On Monday, the WADA Executive Committee unanimously endorsed a recommendation by its Compliance Review Committee to ban Russia from hosting and competing in major international sporting events for four years after it allegedly manipulated laboratory data handed over to the agency's investigator.
"What lies on the surface and what I see right away is that there are no complaints against the Russian Olympic National Committee, and if there are no complaints against it, then the country should compete under the national flag. That's the Olympic charter ... Anyway, in this part of its decision, WADA contradicts the Olympic charter and we have every reason to sue," Putin stressed.
He added that the fact that WADA's decision applies collectively to all Russian athletes proves that it is politicized and that the organization does not really care for individual athletes, or "clean sport" in general.
"Any punishment - as it has been since the time of Roman law - must be individual and proceed from what was committed by one person or another. Punishments cannot be of a collective nature and apply to people who have nothing to do with certain violations - and everyone understands this. I think that WADA experts also understand this," Putin told journalists in Paris.
