Russian Olympic Committee Official Calls NYT Doping Article 'Fake'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Olympic Committee's (ROC) First Vice President Stanislav Pozdnyakov on Wednesday blasted an article in The New York Times, which claimed there was an "institutional conspiracy" in Russian sports, calling it "a fake."

The US newspaper on Tuesday published an article in which Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) acting Director General Anna Antseliovich allegedly confirmed the existence of an "institutional conspiracy" to cover the use of doping in Russia. In response to that, RUSADA issued a statement, which indicated that Antseliovich's words were taken out of context, and their meaning was distorted.

"I read the article in The New York Times very attentively, and was surprised that the content of the article was totally out of line with the headline. Reading and discussing the text with my colleagues, I came to the unequivocal conclusion that the words in this article were taken out of the context of the general discussion," Pozdnyakov, who is a member of the RUSADA supervisory board, told R-Sport.

"Therefore I would call the article a journalistic fake… which does not contribute to the resolution of the problem — the fight against doping — faced not only by Russia but by all sports around the world," he said by phone.

The Kremlin on Wednesday denied state sponsorship of doping use in Russian sports. Sport Minister Pavel Kolobkov later questioned the veracity of the US newspaper's reporting.