The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) refused to agree to warn athletes about doping tests five minutes in advance alleges Yuriy Ganus (Ю́рий Га́нус), RUSADA’s Director General. Ganus alleges that RUSADA’s Founders, the Russian Olympic and Paralympic Committee (ROC & RPC), made the request at a 29 April 2019 meeting.

“After discussing the audit situation, we moved on to discuss notifying athletes about doping tests five minutes before the arrival of the doping officer”, he told Meduza. “We said that RUSADA’s position is that we work strictly in accordance with international standards. In this regard, we categorically insisted that there will be no five minute notification. In this way, we went against the position of the Founders […] Five minutes is enough time to distort the test results of athletes.”

The interview with Meduza took place on 25 July 2020, shortly after Ganus was accused of misappropriating funds – allegations that he denies. RUSADA’s Supervisory Board has recommended his removal after the ROC and RPC published a confidential audit in response to Ganus’ denials.

Ganus was appointed on 25 August 2017 on a four year contract. Article 8.3 of the RUSADA Charter mandates that the Director General is appointed for four years, and not for more than two terms.