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Vitaly Mutko
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Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has revealed that
a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission visited Moscow and took around
3,000 samples from local athletes for testing.
Reuters reports WADA took the samples as part of an investigation the
authority is conducting in response to a German TV documentary that featured
what it claimed was an undercover video of Russian athletes and coaches
admitting to covering up positive tests.
"I wrote a letter to WADA, in which I said very
precisely that we were open to receiving any commission and ready to show
everything," Mutko told the sports agency R-Sport.
"A commission from WADA has already been to visit
us, which included three people who were led by the director of science.
"According to my information, they took around
3,000 samples to be checked in a laboratory in Cologne as well as other
laboratories.
"We will continue to work along this route and we
are completely open," the sports minister added.
The programme was aired in three parts by German
channel ZDF/ARD with many of its claims denounced as "lies" by the
head of Russia's Athletics Federation Valentin Balakhnichev.
Balakhnichev has since stood down from his role as
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) treasurer while the
allegations are investigated.
On Tuesday, Vladimir Kazarin, the coach highlighted as
a main offender in the documentary, said he was suing the programme-maker Hajo
Seppelt.
Kazarin is also filing
lawsuits against Russian middle-distance runner Yulia Stepanova and her husband
Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian Anti-Doping Agency official whose claims were
at the centre of the programme's claims.
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