December 17, 2015
All senior management (click here) of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) have resigned, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in his annual news conference that Russia would help eradicate the 'poison' of doping.
All senior management (click here) of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) have resigned, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in his annual news conference that Russia would help eradicate the 'poison' of doping.
On December 10 RUSADA had amended its charter to create a supervisory board designed to monitor its activities and guarantee impartiality in its operations.
The mass resignations come after the supervisory board recommended that all top management of RUSADA resign immediately - including Executive Director Nikita Kamaeva and Deputy Director General for International Cooperation Igor Zagorski, as well as Ramil Khabriev, the CEO.
After the resignations, Anna Antseliovich was appointed acting CEO....
It wasn't long ago Russia sponsored the Winter Olympics. During that time he found he needed to appear at some venues where judges could have tainted the outcome of Russia competition.
I think it was President Putin's first exposure to the seriousness of anti-doping policies and enforcing them. As a result he is taking a greater interest to insure Russian sports figures are safe, habit free and well within any standard of international competition. I congratulate him for taking Russian competitors as serious to their country and the sports important to them.
International competition where there are no or few professional teams within a country is a very serious aspect to a country's identity. This is a very good idea by President Putin. One of the enormously important sports to international competition is soccer. The "World Cup" is a national event in many countries.
Things are done differently in Russia. C-Span has the Russian President's "State of the Nation" address. (click here) This was recently followed up by a FOUR HOUR news conference. Interesting how different Russia is when it comes to speaking to their news media.
I have seen Foreign Minister Lavrov do the very same thing. They literally set aside a day where an entire block of time is dedicated to speaking to the media. They also include in that media conference young people with their own newspapers so they get to ask questions as well.
Very different than the USA media. It would be a shock to the system of American media if President Putin or Secretary Kerry sat still for four hours to speak to the media.
