Loginova: WADA likely won’t conduct online audit of RUSADA in June

MOSCOW, June 1 – RIA Novosti, Sergey Fuks. RUSADA CEO Veronika Loginova told RIA Novosti that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will most likely not conduct a virtual audit of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) in June.

WADA CEO Olivier Niggli said on May 19 that the organization should cancel its face-to-face audit of RUSADA in March. The international agency has offered to conduct a virtual audit, which should take place soon.

After a series of doping scandals surrounding Russian sports, in December 2019 the WADA Executive Committee admitted RUSADA to non-compliance with anti-doping rules and unanimously passed the Compliance Committee’s (CRC) recommendation to suspend Russian athletes for a period of four years. In major international competitions, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games. At the plenary meeting of RUSADA members, the agency’s supervisory board’s recommendations not to agree with the WADA executive committee’s decision were adopted.

After receiving notice from RUSADA that it disagreed with the executive committee’s decision, WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), which eased WADA’s sanctions on Russian sports, halving the penalty compared to what WADA had originally requested. According to the CAS decision, Russian athletes will not be able to compete in major international competitions under the Russian flag for two years – until December 16, 2022. According to the CAS’s decision, RUSADA must meet a number of conditions within two years (or earlier as agreed with WADA) to re-establish compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code, including an audit.