Sergey Lavrov (Серге́й Лавро́в), Russia’s Foreign Minister, has suggested that the US may use the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA) to kidnap and sanction athletes who they see as a threat in international competitions. “I do not exclude that – just as the Americans steal those whom they suspect of an offence around the world and simply take them to their territory illegally – similar methods will be used to punish athletes who have reported a positive [doping] test, and who Americans see as a threat to their interests in international competition”, he told representatives of the sports community in the Sverdlovsk region, reported State news agency TASS.

However, it is questionable whether the RADA, passed in December last year, can be used to punish athletes for an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV). RADA was spurred by the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) success in prosecuting former FIFA officials for corruption offences that defrauded institutions in the US. It seeks to punish people who conspired to defraud US sport through the creation of doping schemes, but not athletes who commit ADRVs. 

RADA is intended to punish people involved in ‘international doping fraud conspiracies’ (see below). ‘It shall be unlawful for any person, other than an athlete, to knowingly carry into effect, attempt to carry into effect, or conspire with any other person to carry into effect a scheme in commerce to influence by use of a prohibited substance or prohibited method any major international sports competition’, reads Section 3 of the Act (emphasis added), which outlines that there is ‘extraterritorial jurisdiction’ over a Section 3 offence.

Lavrov also warned that the world’s anti-doping system is becoming increasingly politicised. He pointed out that of the current 15 members of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Executive Committee, 12 are from countries that are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

“Such a bias towards world powers, which represent an absolute minority of the world’s population, is wrong”, he said, reported TASS. “Moreover, sports in developing countries, in China, in Russia are on the rise.

“The current situation in the international arena in the field of high-performance sports is extremely politicised. This is part of the policy of our Western colleagues to contain Russia. Using sports as a means of political pressure directly negates the principles of the international sports movement.”

However, it would appear that the US and Russia agree on the need to reform WADA governance structures. In July this year, the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) withheld US$1.3 million in funding from WADA over its failure to effectively reform.