The Russian Friendship Games are under threat of disruption: WADA is tearing up and rushing, the IOC is furious: EADaily

World Anti-Doping Agency Director General Olivier Niggli said Russia is not eligible to host the World Friendship Games due to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency’s lack of compliance status.

“We know about Russia’s intention to organize the Friendship Games. We understand that they are not going to be organized within the framework of world sports. Just look at the fact that the organization is carried out by the president of the federation, which has been deprived of IOC recognition. We don’t know many details, but we believe that it is necessary to draw attention to this event from an anti-doping point of view. It will be organized by a country whose anti-doping system does not comply with the code. We will not be able to monitor this competition and it will not involve the AIU (Athletics Independent Unit) so there will be no fairness provided to athletes. In addition, according to the code, a country that is deprived of compliance does not have the right to organize major competitions.” – Niggli said during a meeting of the WADA founding board in Montreal.

Let us recall that back in August the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin During a meeting with members of the government, he stated that as a result of the politicization of world sports and the commercialization of the IOC, degradation is occurring there, which will entail the creation of parallel structures in sports.

Earlier, Inside the Games quoted the director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Department for Relations with National Olympic Committees (NOCs) James McLeod that the IOC is asking the NOCs of various countries to “exercise caution regarding the World Friendship Games,” which are planned to be held in 2024 in Russia. McLeod said any NOC participation in the Friendship Games would be contrary to IOC recommendations and “preserving the independence and autonomy of the sport.”

On September 22, the WADA Executive Committee decided that RUSADA remains deprived of full status due to inconsistencies of state legislation with the World Anti-Doping Code, identified during a virtual audit in September 2022 and not eliminated to date. WADA’s decision was supposed to come into force on October 14, but RUSADA disagreed and the case was referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

By the way, Russia and Belarus have not paid their mandatory contributions to WADA in 2023. Moscow’s contribution was supposed to be $1.267 million, Minsk’s – $46 thousand. Among European countries, in addition to Russia and Belarus, WADA has not yet received contributions from Georgia, Iceland and Monaco; the remaining countries have made payments in full or in part.

The size of Russia’s annual contribution is less than that of Canada (1.709 million), the USA (3.419 million), Japan (1.502 million) and similar to the contributions of France, Germany, Italy and the UK. All these countries have made their mandatory payments.

Earlier, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation reported that Russia wants to review the payment system at WADA, since their amount is affected by membership in the Council of Europe, of which Russia is no longer a member.

President WADA Vytold Banka stated that RUSADA would not be automatically reinstated after December 17 because RUSADA does not comply with the organization’s code, including due to the fact that the World Anti-Doping Code is not fully integrated into Russian laws.