Moscow (AFP)
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia should be able to participate in sports competitions under the colors of its flag, which it is deprived of because of a doping scandal.
"Our country does not have to participate under a neutral flag if no concrete criticism is made of our current Olympic Committee. It is written in the Olympic charter," said the Russian president at his annual press conference.
"If the World Anti-Doping Agency has no complaints against our Olympic Committee, then our team must participate under our flag," continued Mr. Putin, denouncing the "unfair", "illegal" and "devoid of sanctions". common sense "targeting his country.
"Any punishment must be individual," insisted Mr. Putin while promising to "do everything to keep Russian sport clean". He said his country's ban on world sport was "politically motivated".
The Russian anti-doping agency must decide on Thursday if it starts the procedure to challenge the exclusion for four years of Russia of the world sports competitions, of which the Olympic Games 2020 and 2022 and the World cup of football 2022, for having falsified the data of controlled athletes.
The ban on Russia provides that only hand-picked Russian athletes will be able to participate in the competitions, but under a neutral flag and without the national anthem being played.
Moscow denounced these new sanctions, after a first doping scandal in 2015, speaking of "anti-Russian hysteria".
© 2019 AFP