MOSCOW - Russian prosecutors have launched an inquiry into allegations of doping by Russian athletes at the Olympic Games, authorities said Thursday.
Russian prosecutors have launched an inquiry into allegations of doping by Russian athletes at the Olympic Games, authorities announced on May 19, 2016
The announcement came after the International Olympic Committee announced that 31 athletes had failed doping tests following new examinations of samples taken from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The New York Times reported this week that US prosecutors have launched their own criminal inquiry into alleged doping by Russian athletes.
Russia's general prosecutor said the department had joined with law enforcement agencies, the sports ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee to "probe information published by a string of media outlets and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) about the use of doping among Russian athletes at the Beijing, London and Sochi Olympics."
"We are planning to send requests for information to the competent authorities of the United States and a number of other countries, within the framework of international legal cooperation, to exchange information about the alleged use of doping."
The prosecutors said in a statement that WADA would also be asked for information.
The government's investigative committee was also conducting "pre-investigatory checks" about allegations of "systematic violations of anti-doping regulations," said a spokesman Vladimir Markin.
"We are probing information published in number of articles cited by Grigory Rodchenkov, a former employee of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, and Vitaly Stepanov, a former employee of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA)," the spokesman said.
Rodchenkov, now in hiding in the United States, has alleged that Russian secret service and government officials subverted doping tests at the 2014 Winter Olympics laboratory in Sochi to hide failed tests by Russian athletes.
The allegations have come as a new blow to Russia's reputation after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) suspended Russia last year over doping accusations.
The IOC has called the accusations against the Sochi laboratory "worrying". Russian authorities have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Russian track and field athletes could now miss the Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of the IAAF suspension.
Russia has not yet said whether it was one of the 12 nations informed that its athletes were among the suspicious tests from Beijing.
The Kenyan, Australian and British Olympic committees have said they have not been told of failed tests by their competitors.