WADA imposes a new ban on Russia, forbidding its national flag

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has refused to reinstate Russia's membership. The organization will extend the ban on Russian athletes competing under the national flag. The decision was made at a meeting of its executive committee held in Shanghai.

This is reported by the official WADA website. The agency emphasized that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) still does not comply with the WADA code because of the state legislation of the aggressor country, whose system of using banned substances was exposed after the 2014 Olympics.

"The WADA Executive Board followed the recommendations of the Independent Compliance Committee to approve new consequences and conditions for the reinstatement of RUSADA, which is no longer in compliance with the Code due to non-compliance with state legislation that was identified during a virtual audit in September 2022 and has not been resolved to date. The flag of the Russian Federation will not be presented at the Olympic and Paralympic Games until the conditions of reinstatement are met," the agency said.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denied that Russian athletes were using banned drugs en masse, a fact that has been recognized even by Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin.

As a reminder, Russia was stripped of 11 medals after the 2014 Sochi Games. The punishment of the Russians has been in action since 2015. The athletes competed without the flag and anthem during the last two Olympics.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Olympic champion Irina Rodnina unexpectedly criticized the doping system in Russia and called for tougher penalties for athletes who take banned substances.

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