Vladimir Putin: Russian president wants doping investigation

The athletics world governing body has given Russian Federation until Friday to come up with answers to the allegations, and with the deadline looming Putin met sports chiefs in Sochi, the Black Sea home of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

“The struggle with doping in sports, unfortunately, remains a pressing issue, and it requires unending attention”, Putin said.

“We must do everything in Russia to rid ourselves of this problem”, Putin said yesterday in footage shown on Russian television of the meeting – ironically called to discuss the country’s preparations for Rio 2016.

“If someone breaks the rules on doping, the responsibility should be individual”, the Kremlin leader said. The plane carrying the sports officials was forced to land in the city of Mineralnye Vody, where they have instead arranged a meeting with Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov. However, Putin’s determination to press ahead with the session indicated the sensitivity of the issue for Russian Federation.

Sports are a substantial piece of Russia’s self-esteem – both in athletes’ performances and its ability to host huge global events.

One section of the commission’s report said that Lausanne-based Swiss doping analysis laboratory, known by its French initials LAD, destroyed test samples after making “unwarranted assumptions” that they had been sufficiently tested.

Rodchenkov resigned on Tuesday.

The lab – which handled doping tests for last year’s Winter Olympics – has stopped work after WADA stripped its accreditation.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had earlier said Britain’s anti-doping system had “zero value” and was “even worse” than Russia’s.

Putin was speaking for the first time since a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) independent commission revealed its damning findings on Monday.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko pledged his country would adopt new measures to clamp down on doping including devising new testing methods and possibly opening criminal cases against athletes suspected of cheating.

Russian Federation could be suspended from the sport – nine months before next year’s Olympics – when IAAF President Sebastian Coe convenes a meeting of his ruling council. He said he expected the I.A.A.F.to “protect clean athletes”.