SOCHI (Sputnik) – On Tuesday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) temporarily removed its accreditation of the Moscow-based Antidoping Center following accusations against Russia of breaching anti-doping regulations.
"I can absolutely assure you that in cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency we are ready to conduct once more a re-accreditation of our anti-doping center," Mutko told journalists, stressing that a new director of the anti-doping laboratory has already been appointed.
On Monday, a WADA commission issued a report accusing Russia of numerous violations of global anti-doping codes and recommended the country be banned from international athletics, including the 2016 Olympics.
"The last monitoring of the Council of Europe has confirmed that Russia complies with the doping code. Now the commission thinks that it does not. So, we need to offer once more that if necessary, there could be a special UNESCO monitoring group," Mutko said, adding that "if there is a necessity to conduct another accreditation of the [Russian anti-doping] laboratory," Russia is ready to do so.
On Wednesday, Russian President Putin ordered Mutko to conduct an internal investigation into alleged widespread doping practices among Russian athletes.