Russia offers FIFA joint investigation into doping in football

Moscow :  The Russian Investigative Committee on Thursday offered to cooperate with FIFA in a joint inquiry on the alleged use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances among members of the Russian national football team.

The committee proposed objective analysis of data that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) provided to FIFA, related to the results of anti-doping tests of athletes, including football players, carried out by the Russian anti-doping laboratory, reports Efe.

"Yet again, the Russian Investigative Committee declares its readiness to cooperate with international organisations, to exchange information and analyse cases of violation of anti-doping rules by Russian athletes," the committee said in a statement.

The committee highlighted that it had sent a similar invitation to WADA, which, according to the RIC, took no real action.

The RIC opened a criminal investigation against the former head of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who is accused of power abuse.

On December 1, the president of the Russian football federation, Vitaly Mutko, denied at a press conference that Russian players had used banned substances.

In August 2016, FIFA opened an inquiry into doping in Russian football, with 11 players allegedly involved, according to the 97-page independent report released by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren.