Kremlin calls WADA's decision on Russia 'unfair'

The Kremlin on Thursday called the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) decision to maintain its suspension of Russia "unfair". "This is unpleasant news," Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "We do not agree with this decision, we believe it to be unfair. We denounced and continue to denounce accusations that cases of doping had some kind of state support," Peskov said.
"We are preparing for the Olympic Games," he added. WADA's decision, taken on Thursday in Seoul, raised the spectre of a possible ban of the Russian team from February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The International Olympic Committee is expected to decide whether Russia can compete in Pyeongchang at an executive board meeting next month in Lausanne. Russia was declared "non-compliant" by WADA following a report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren alleged institutionalised doping culminating at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.