He said: “Politics is dictating this decision. The Russians didn’t accept the conditions so why will they accept the new ones. The Russians drafted the new ones, so they determined their own re-entry rules and the power to interpret them. They have all the discretion and escapes. Wada has lost leverage.”
US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) head Travis Tygart said Wada’s decision to reinstate Rusada is “bewildering and inexplicable” and a “devastating blow to the world’s clean athletes”.
He added: “Wada has sent one clear message to the world: we put the wishes of a small handful of sports administrators above the rights of millions of clean athletes and the dreams of billions of sports fans.”
Russia is suspended from International Paralympic Committee (IPC) events and also from athletics, although some have been allowed to compete as neutrals in international competition after proving their anti-doping credentials.
Both the IPC and athletics’ governing body, the IAAF, have already established their own taskforces to investigate Russia’s compliance.
IPC president Andrew Parsons said that they will assess whether Wada’s decision addresses two of the final three remaining reinstatement criteria related to the Russian Paralympic Committee suspension and once recommendations are made, the IPC governing board will convene to determine whether to lift the RPC’s suspension.
However, in a joint statement with the IPC Athletes Council, he said that he did not expect the task force to provide any recommendations to the board until the criterion related to the IPC’s reimbursement costs associated with the suspension is satisfied.
Currently, the Russian Paralympic Committee owes his association 257,500 euros (£229,000) for the increased testing programme of Russian Para athletes and the IPC Taskforce.
The IAAF taskforce will report back to a council meeting in December.
IAAF president Lord Coe said: “IAAF has its own set of criteria for the reinstatement of the Russian Athletics Federation. We will continue to rely on the taskforce and our clear roadmap for their reinstatement until we are satisfied that the conditions have been met.”
