Russia is officially protesting a bill in the Senate which can charge athletes that dope their blood as a fraud.
The below article is on RG.ru, the official website of the Russian government.
It seems that Russia almost must officially lie.
The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that the bill is being examined against the backdrop of the reluctance of the Americans themselves to give an adequate assessment of the latest high-profile revelations connected with the large-scale and systematic use of doping by famous American athletes.
“[L]arge-scale and systematic use of doping by famous American athletes”? I believe the last time an American was caught doping was Lance Armstrong in 2012. Large scale and systematic? Hardly. This is also a case of Whataboutism and propaganda.
Even the link in that sentence just leads to another article damning the Rodchenkov Act. RG.ru can say Americans widely dope but provides no evidence for their outrageous statement.
Russia is especially irate because of Russia’s state-sponsored doping program which resulted in Russia being banned from sending a team to Rio 2016 or PyeongChang 2018. A neutral team was sent, instead.
Russia’s only legitimate concern is the accusation that the US is overreaching. They claim a US law can be applied externally to the US, which is an overreach.
Thanks to Dr, Rodchenkov, the former head of the Russian ADA, who fled Russia in 2015 fearing for his life and is now in witness protection in the US, and other whistle-blowers, the extent of Russia’s doping was revealed by two World Anti-Doping Agency-funded (Wada) investigations in 2015 and 2016.
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Foreign Ministry called the US goal when considering the “Rodchenkov law”
02/01/2019
The Russian Foreign Ministry is concerned about new attempts to counter the extraterritorial application of US law to generally accepted international anti-doping mechanisms. On January 30, the draft of the “G. Rodchenkov law” was once again submitted to the US Congress.
“It is symptomatic that the authors of the bill do not hide that the reason for its re-consideration was the recently established constructive dialogue between WADA and relevant Russian organizations. comments of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The bewilderment of the Russian Foreign Ministry causes the main danger of the “G. Rodchenkov law” – the possibility of bringing to criminal responsibility in the United States of participants in international competitions held in other countries. In its comments, the Russian Foreign Ministry draws attention to the “anectodical situation” of this bill, according to which, a particularly heavy responsibility – up to 10 years in prison – comes when the use of doping leads to the loss of American athletes.
The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that the bill is being examined against the backdrop of the reluctance of the Americans themselves to give an adequate assessment of the latest high-profile revelations connected with the large-scale and systematic use of doping by famous American athletes.
On Smolenskaya Square they hope that the US lawmakers will think about the inadmissibility of mixing sport with politics, because it would be destructive for the international sports movement.
Earlier, the International Olympic Committee criticized the “G. Rodchenkov law”, drawing attention to the fact that all athletes participating in international competitions could be affected by it.
Source: https://rg.ru/2019/02/01/mid-nazval-celi-ssha-pri-rassmotrenii-zakona-rodchenkova.html
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