Moscow drug testing lab suspended in wake of doping scandal

The World Anti-Doping Agency has suspended the accreditation of Moscow's drug-testing laboratory in the wake of a damning report that found a “deeply rooted culture of cheating” in Russian track and field.

WADA says it acted “immediately” on the recommendation in the report by its independent commission to shut the Russian lab. The suspension takes effect immediately and bars the Moscow lab from carrying out any testing of urine and blood samples.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko later said the head of the country's anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, had stepped down.  

Mutko told Russia's Tass news agency that Rodchenkov "took the decision to resign to take all the negatives away with him" as the lab begins a reform process.

Meanwhile, all samples for the Moscow lab will be transported “securely, promptly and with a demonstrable chain of custody” to an alternative WADA-accredited lab. The Moscow lab has the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.

WADA says a disciplinary committee will be formed to review the case.

Russia's status as a sports superpower and its participation in athletics events at next year's Olympics are under threat after the report accused the Russians of widespread, state-supported doping reminiscent of the darkest days of cheating by the former East Germany.

The WADA investigation's findings that Russian government officials must have known about doping and cover-ups, with even its intelligence service, the FSB, allegedly involved, threatened to severely tarnish President Vladimir Putin's use of sports to improve his country's global standing. Russia hosted the last Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and will hold the next World Cup in 2018.

But Moscow has said the accusations appear to be unfounded. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that whenever any charges are made, they must be based on some evidence.

“As long as there is no evidence, it is difficult to consider the accusations, which appear rather unfounded,” Peskov said.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said the doping scandal in the country did not affect performances at the 2014 Sochi Games.

In Russian newspapers, many followed the government's lead in playing down the accusations from the WADA commission. The scandal was typically confined to a small item in the sports pages, with only two business papers and the sports dailies giving it front-page space.

“Are they taking Rio away from us?!” read the headline on the front page of Sport Express, referring to calls to ban Russia's athletics team from next year's Olympics.

Mutko, whose ministry is implicated in the report, even threatened to withdraw all government financial support for anti-doping work in protest at the report's accusations.

On state television, Mutko argued that the report presented “no serious objective evidence” of state involvement in doping and that its focus on Russia was unfair.

“Doping is not the problem of Russia,” Mutko said. “Russia shouldn't be singled out. It's a world problem.”

Wire services