“No Intervention”: Experts Refute WADA's Conclusions on Russia's Manipulation of Moscow Lab Data

The Executive Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will consider on December 9 the recommendations of the Compliance Committee regarding the status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). On this day, the most serious sanctions in history may be imposed on Russian sports: for four years the Russian Federation will be banned from organizing international competitions, and domestic athletes will not be able to take part in them under the state flag. This also applies to the Olympic Games.

Such a severe punishment is explained by suspicions that RUSADA allegedly presented WADA with a falsified database of the Moscow laboratory, which was formed using the LIMS system. Agency investigators said the electronic documents provided were different from earlier copies. The data was needed by WADA to investigate doping violations that occurred from 2012 to 2015.

On Thursday, a group of independent Russian experts led by the rector of Moscow State Law University Viktor Blazheev released their own report on LIMS. According to TASS, Russian experts denied WADA’s conclusions that the database was falsified by the Russian side and announced the possible participation of ex-director of the Moscow laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov in manipulating LIMS.

“The general conclusions about the results of the examinations indicate the absence of intentional interventions by any persons in the LIMS electronic databases and primary analytical data with the aim of falsification, deletion and other changes since their removal from the laboratory in July 2016. The investigating authorities did not carry out any manipulations with the databases that were in the laboratory until they were seized by WADA experts in January 2019, ”the expert group said.

A detailed report by Russian experts says that the database, which contained information on the results of athletes' doping checks, underwent modifications and changes from 2012 to 2015, when the laboratory was headed by Rodchenkov. After his migration to the United States, along with his deputy Timofey Sobolevsky and IT specialist at the Moscow laboratory Oleg Migachev, edits continued to be made until June 2016, and this happened remotely from an IP address in California.

Also, while fleeing Russia, Rodchenkov and his colleagues took with them a copy of the database, which was later provided by WADA. In the report of Russian experts, she appears as a "LIMS informant." It was with her that the WADA investigators compared the database received from RUSADA at the beginning of 2019, after which they stated a lot of inconsistencies found. In Russia, the authenticity of the LIMS Informant raised serious doubts.

“It should be noted that, having emigrated to the United States in November 2015, only in May 2016 did Rodchenkov decide on official statements denouncing Russian sport. Russian technical experts are unanimous in the opinion that even for a shorter period of time, any version of LIMS that is not used in the normal mode (as well as absolutely any other software product) can be redone without evidence (without leaving traces of impact), based on their own goals and objectives, ”said in the report.

WADA investigators did not provide a forensic copy of the LIMS informant for analysis in Russia and a report on its investigation, while the original LIMS was seized in Moscow using all necessary certified equipment and under the supervision of all interested parties. After that, blaming RUSADA for the fact that the database provided by the Russian agency does not match the one to which WADA had access and, with a high degree of probability, Rodchenkov, according to Russian experts, is unacceptable.

Interestingly, Rodchenkov’s attempts to edit the original LIMS, according to experts, continued in 2017, when access to it was closed. He wanted to eliminate inconsistencies with his edits in the copied database presented by WADA as “real”. In order to gain access, as Russian investigators found, Rodchenkov turned to the current director of the Moscow laboratory, Elena Mochalova, and offered her refuge in the United States or Canada in exchange for cooperation.

Russian experts also said that information from the original database, which WADA has removed and now calls falsified, can be restored. Therefore, it’s premature to talk about the irretrievable loss of data and, moreover, to impose sanctions against athletes because of this.

In addition, an independent group of Russian experts spoke about WADA’s reluctance to conduct a joint investigation into the LIMS doping scandal, although the Russian side met with investigators of the agency, offering them their help.

“Russian experts focus on the fact that the WADA leadership was repeatedly invited to form a group of independent experts from the Russian side and from among WADA representatives to conduct a joint open investigation on the so-called“ doping dossier ”, which would help to establish the truth in a short time, as well as to attract convicted of taking doping athletes to responsibility, ”the report said.

Despite all the inconsistencies and contradictions identified that impede an objective investigation, sanctions against Russia will most likely be imposed - the WADA executive committee, as a rule, accepts all the recommendations of the compliance committee. After that, the Russian side will have 21 days to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and there the arguments of Russian experts can already be heard.