Moscow (AFP)

The Russian anti-doping agency Rusada announced Friday that it had challenged the exclusion of Russia from world sports competitions for having falsified anti-doping data, sanctions qualified by "Vladimir Putin" as "unjust".

"A set of documents has been sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency. Among them is the notification of the disagreement with the sanctions," Rusada director general Iouri Ganous told reporters.

WADA confirmed on Friday that it had received notification from Rusada and that, in accordance with the procedure, it would promptly refer the matter to the Sports Arbitral Tribunal (CAS). The decision that the CAS will take will be final and will bind all the signatories, the agency said in a press release.

Mr. Ganous signed this letter after a decision by the governing bodies of the Rusada, that is to say its supervisory board and its founders, the Russian Olympic and Paralympic committees.

However, he himself is opposed to this challenge and he indicated that he had sent a second letter on his behalf to WADA expressing his personal position.

"I regret to inform you that I failed in my efforts to change my mind (the decision-making bodies of the Rusada) regarding this notification," he said, reading his missive addressed to the world agency.

Again accusing the Russian sports authorities of not being up to the task, he also underlined that by contesting the WADA decision, Russia was taking "the serious risk" of seeing the "sanctions reinforced and not softened".

For weeks, the head of the Rusada has publicly judged the Russian authorities guilty in this scandal, demanding from President Vladimir Putin a big sweep so that a merciless fight against cheaters is engaged.

WADA decided on December 9 to ban Russia from participating in major international events for four years, including the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games and the 2022 Soccer World Cup. The sanctions stipulate that only Russian athletes selected from the the component may participate in competitions, but under a neutral flag and without the national anthem being played.

If the sanctions are so heavy, it is because the AMA estimated that Russia had "manipulated" the data of the anti-doping laboratory of Moscow having been transmitted to him at the beginning of year, an umpteenth twist in a scandal which started with the revelation in 2015 of institutional doping practiced since 2011 and involving senior officials, secret agents and trafficked urine vials.

"WADA remains confident that it made the right decision on December 9," said outgoing president Craig Reedie. "The consequences envisaged are hard for the Russian authorities while solidly protecting the integrity of clean sport in the world. We will defend this decision as vigorously as possible before the CAS".

- "Anti-Russian hysteria" -

According to Mr. Ganous, the manipulation of the database in question, which was in the hands of the police, was probably aimed at protecting the big names in Russian sport.

The Sports Ministry has denied any manipulation, while Vladimir Putin has denounced "unfair" sanctions, and his Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saw it as proof of "anti-Russian hysteria".

Last week, the Russian president also judged the WADA decision "politically motivated", saying that "any punishment must be individual" and not collective.

The Russian Olympic Committee for its part stressed that it will do "everything for the team to participate under the Russian tricolor flag".

In Russia, sport remains eminently political, as Mr. Putin relied on major competitions to build the prestige of his country, organizing the Winter Olympics in Sochi (2014) or the World Athletics Championships (2013) , swimming (2015) and ice hockey (2016).

The 2018 Football World Cup attracted more than three million tourists and 17 foreign heads of state attended the opening ceremony.

If the endless saga of doping has dealt a blow to the image in the world of the Russian giant, in the country, the idea of ​​a Western plot to humiliate and eliminate a geopolitical and sports competitor remains very much in vogue, as it is put forward by the authorities.

For the sportsmen, the banishment of Russia is experienced as a new catastrophe, their country having already been excluded from various competitions since 2015. Many people criticize an excessive firmness of the AMA.

Others, on the contrary, made the Russian government responsible, like the triple world champion in high jump Maria Lasitskene.

© 2019 AFP