CHEBOKSARY, Russia (AP) — One day before an IOC summit to discuss Russia's ban from Olympic track and field, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko again insisted that the government played no role in doping.
Instead, Mutko heaped blame on former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov, who Mutko called "the author of everything."
"When the state is accused, then it's always politics and unfortunately athletes become hostages of such political rulings and the pressure exerted on the country," Mutko said Monday in comments to Russia's Interfax news agency.
Since leaving his post last year amid allegations of a doping cover-up, Rodchenkov has told The New York Times that he sabotaged the anti-doping system at the 2014 Sochi Olympics by swapping tainted Russian samples for clean ones at the on-site laboratory.