Russia suspends several senior sport officials amid doping scandal

Several senior Russian sport officials have been suspended until an investigation into allegations by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is completed, Russia’s sport minister Vitaly Mutko said Tuesday.

The officials include a Deputy Sport Minister, Yury Nagornykh, anti-doping adviser Natalia Zhelanova, a deputy director of the ministry’s science and education department, Avak Abalyan, and the head of a medical department, Irina Rodionova, and national teams adviser Alexei Velikodny, the minister told the Interfax news agency.

The Kremlin said earlier in the day that Mutko himself was not suspended because he was not named as a direct perpetrator in the WADA report.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that officials accused in the report would be suspended. The report, released earlier on Monday, accused Russian officials of enabling widespread abuse of performance-enhancing drugs among many of the country’s top athletes.

Source: GNA