Russia accuses the Americans to pressure to exclude it as a JO

Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/ Associated Press / Pool
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin

Moscow — The Kremlin has accused the us government of putting pressure to exclude Russia from the olympic Games.

In the wake of the comments of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, according to which the international olympic Committee (IOC) was under pressure of the United States, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was referring to ” State [structures], including through social organisations and non-governmental. “

Putin has said that the effort’s aim was to exclude Russia of the winter olympic Games next year, or that his athletes were forced to compete under a flag neutral.

In his televised comments Thursday, Putin said that the IOC was dependent on sponsorship revenue “, and in turn, these sponsors receive clear signals from some u.s. agencies. We are not just making assumptions, we know that. “

Miss the olympic Games or send athletes under the flag of a neutral would be “degrading” for Russia, said Putin, and suggested that this could be intended to interfere in the Russian presidential election in march. Putin should be candidate for his re-election, but has not yet been confirmed.

“If someone is thinking of and be able to influence the election campaign in Russia in the spring of next year, then he is deeply disturbed,” said Mr. Putin.

No specific organisms

Russia is already the subject of an IOC investigation into allegations that she would have put in place a comprehensive programme of doping supported by the State, including the replacement of contaminated samples at the screening laboratory of the olympic winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.

Neither Putin nor Peskov specified what specific organizations the us government could be involved in the pressure alleged to the place of the IOC.

The anti-doping Agency american, a non-governmental organization that receives part of its funding from the u.s. government, is part of a group of 37 national anti-doping agencies that have requested that Russia be excluded from the olympic Games, which begin on February 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The IOC has said that its investigators expect that” a number ” of doping cases involving Russian Sochi olympics are resolved by the end of the month of November, but that they did not intend to give guidance on the eligibility of these athletes for the Games in Pyeongchang.

The implication of Putin that interference by the United States in the Russian election occurs in the middle of investigations conducted in the United States about a putative interference in the presidential election last year. A special committee of the u.s. Senate is conducting an investigation on the influence of Russia in the elections of 2016 and wondered if there are links with the campaign of Donald Trump.