The decisive verdict

The Sports Arbitration Court (CAS) rejected the appeal of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR) and 68 Russian athletes to the International Association of athletics Federations (IAAF), which removed athletes from Russia from participation in all international competitions, including the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The official CAS website says that the arbitration court made this decision unanimously. The CAS verdict may become decisive in discussions among members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which these days are discussing the issue of removing the entire Russian team from the 2016 Games.

“Athletes can take part in the Olympics if they meet the criterion. Russia has no right to assign athletes for games-2016 if they do not meet the requirements. Only those who are not included in the system and meet the requirements can take part, ”said Mathieu Rib Secretary General. He admits that the IOC, which is not a participant in this arbitration, may allow some Russian athletes for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in accordance with the Charter of the Olympics as the main organizer.

CAS Secretary General Mathieu Rib /twitter.com

The CAS decision is the power of the IAAF verdict, which in November disqualified the All -Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) and suspended Russian athletes from participation in all international competitions. On June 17, the IAAF council, on the basis of a report of the working group, upheld the disqualification in force, depriving the Russian athletes team of the opportunity to perform at the Games in Rio. It was this decision that appealed.

Earlier, the IOC leadership warned that it was ready to take the most stringent measures in relation to those who undermine the integrity of the Olympiad. On Tuesday, the committee executive committee held an emergency meeting dedicated to the new report of the World Anti -Doping Agency (WADA). An independent commission, led by the Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, came to the conclusion that from 2011 to 2015 in Russia a scheme for concealing the use of prohibited drugs to achieve the best results was used. The documents indicate that the doping hiding system was developed after the failure of the Russian national team at the 2010 Olympics.

The report claims that the Doping Program of the Deputy Minister of Sports Yuri Nagornya led the doping program. The Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko, according to the materials of the investigation, was aware of the existence of the program and the principles of its work, and in the procedure for concealing positive samples at the Sochi Olympics, FSB officers took part. In total, cases of hiding doping industry are detected in 30 sports, most in athletics.

Olympiad in Sochi/Flickr.com/photos/sochi2014

According to the results of an emergency meeting, the IOC could not determine the measure of punishment for Russia. The President of the organization Thomas Bach said that the report demonstrates a “shocking and unprecedented attack on the integrity of sports and the Olympic Games”. In relation to representatives of the Ministry of Sports of Russia mentioned in the report, a disciplinary investigation has begun. They will be denied accreditation for the Olympics in Rio. Whether this will affect Mutko, who also appeared in the report, is still unclear. In an interview with Interfax, he said that he was ready to refuse a trip to Brazil.

By the order of Vladimir Putin, all officials who are “as direct performers” are temporarily suspended from the posts occupied. The Kremlin was made to understand that Mutko does not apply to those. Mutko himself, answering the question of journalists about his status, said that his resignation is the "prerogative of the president and the Prime Minister."

After the publication of the report, the anti -doping agency called on the IOC to consider the issue of withdrawing the entire national team from the Olympic Games in Brazil. At the same time, the national anti -doping committees of 14 countries sent a collective letter to the Olympic Committee demanding to disqualify the OKR and remove Russia from participating in the Olympics. In order to comply with the balance between collective responsibility and the right to individual justice, the anti -doping committees proposed creating a special group that will determine the criteria for admission to the games of individual Russian athletes under a neutral flag. Under the letter, the heads of anti -doping agencies of Austria, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Egypt, Norway, Finland, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, Holland and the USA were signed.

In mid -June, at the Olympic Summit, the IOC previously agreed to allow individual athletes who are not involved in doping in the implementation of certain criteria. At the same time, the athlete should speak under the flag of his country. It is expected that the IOC will determine the fate of the Russian Olympic team until the end of this week. Today's decision of the Arbitration Court will certainly be taken into account when discussing the issue of removing the national team, but besides this, the IOC will conduct its own investigation on the basis of the facts set forth in the McLaren report, and will also study “all legal consequences” related to the choice between collective disqualification and individual responsibility of athletes.

At the moment, only two Russian athletes have been allowed to the Olympic Games in Rio: Daria Klina, who is trained in the United States, is not involved in the Russian doping system, as well as Julia Stepanova, who was one of the WADA investigation in Russia. IAAF recommended that Stepanov allow the competition under a neutral flag. The remaining 135 individual applications received from Russian athletes were rejected.

IAAF expressed satisfaction by the fact that the sports arbitration court supports her position. “This is not a day for triumphal statements, but we are happy with CAS defended our anti -doping rules. I am not in this sport in order to kill competition, but the rules must be respected. We will continue to work with Russia to create a clean environment for our athletes, ”said IAAF President Sebastian Coa.

Russian Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko called the CAS decision politicized and has no legal basis. He found it difficult to call further actions of the Russian side. Mutko also accused IAAF of corruption, proposing to the ETICTIC Committee of the Federation and the IOC to carry out relevant investigative actions. “The CAS decision is an unprecedented thing that destroys all the sport,” the minister said.

The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov promised that the Kremlin would analyze the decision of the sports arbitration, emphasizing that "the topic of collective responsibility from our point of view can hardly be acceptable." Peskov again drew attention to the fact that athletes who were not convicted of doping were removed from the Olympics. “The news is not very good, we, of course, have to analyze the situation taking into account the decision. Therefore, now from further comments would have been abstract so far, ”said the presidential spokesman.

Despite the exacerbation of a doping scandal on July 20, the OKR Executive Committee approved a delegation for a trip to Rio. It included 387 athletes. According to President of the OKR Alexander Zhukov, the relevance of the list will become clear on Sunday - five days before the opening of the Olympics. The solemn wires of the national team in Brazil were to take place on July 22 in the Alexander Garden in Moscow. After CAS rejected the appeal of the OCD, they were canceled.