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WADA Compliance Review Committee Recommends to Reinstate RUSADA

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Compliance Review Committee on Friday delivered a recommendation for WADA's Executive Committee (ExCo) for the reinstatement of Russia's Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) at the ExCo's next meeting, WADA said in a press release.
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"Today, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA’s) independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) delivered a recommendation to go to WADA’s Executive Committee (ExCo) for the reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) when the ExCo meets next on 20 September," it said.

Commenting on the compliance committee's decision, RUSADA's Deputy Director General Margarita Pakhnotskaya said that the organization had implemented all WADA recommendations.

"RUSADA is working, has implemented all recommendations of WADA compliance committee and continues to do so," Pakhnotskaya said, as quoted by the teamrussia.pro portal.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, in his turn, said that he had always been sure that sooner or later WADA would recognize Russia's efforts to fight against violations of doping rules. Kolobkov stressed it was important for RUSADA to be reinstated at the upcoming WADA Executive Committee meeting.

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In 2015, WADA accused Russia of multiple doping violations and declared RUSADA was not compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code. The situation escalated further after former RUSADA employee Grigory Rodchenkov fled to the United States in 2016, where he became a WADA star informant.

His testimony on the alleged machinations involving doping at the Sochi Olympics formed the basis of a WADA report led by Richard McLaren, which prompted Russia's effective suspension from the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and stripped the Russian Olympic team of its first-place finish at the 2014 Games.

READ MORE: International Paralympic Committee Upholds Suspension of Russia Team

A total of 43 Russian athletes were banned from competition for life, despite the fact that no evidence corroborating Rodchenkov's testimony was provided.

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In early August last year, WADA released a roadmap to code compliance with 12 criteria, which Russia had to meet before WADA's compliance committee can recommend that RUSADA be reinstated.

In November, the WADA panel ruled at a meeting in Seoul that RUSADA remained non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code. The RPC was suspended in August 2016.

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