WADA does not yet received invitation to pay another visit to Moscow lab

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has not yet received a notification from Russia about its readiness to grant access to international body’s experts to Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory with the use of equipment that needed certification, a spokesman for the WADA said.

WADA’s technical experts, who arrived in Moscow for their second visit on December 17, did not finish the work at the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab as their equipment was reportedly not certified in line with the Russian laws. The WADA stated its readiness to resume the process in case the issue was promptly settled by the Russian authorities.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov stated earlier in the day that the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab was ready for another visit of experts from WADA, which should confirm the dates for the visit.

"To the best of my knowledge, we have not received any such correspondence," TASS cited WADA’s spokesman as saying.

The five-person delegation of experts led by independent expert Dr. Jose Antonio Pascual, who is a research scientist and academic in Barcelona, arrived in Moscow on December 17 to access data of the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab, as required by WADA’s Executive Committee decision of September 20.

The delegation of experts arrived in the Russian capital for work to retrieve data on doping samples analysis of Russian athletes for the period between 2011 and 2015, kept at the former facility of the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab.

Granting access to LIMS (the Laboratory Information Management System) data is one of the key conditions for the final reinstatement of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), which was declared compliant with the Code on September 20 on the condition that WADA’s experts would access the Moscow Anti-Doping Lab. In case Russia fails to provide the required access, RUSADA will be declared again as non-compliant with the Code.

The first visit of WADA experts to Moscow took place on November 28.