Peskov: doping situation should not be extended to all Russian sports

The presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on another doping scandal in Russia. "We received information on this matter from the Ministry of Sport. Of course, we regret this," he said. "However, the situation should not be extended to all Russian sports," the spokesman urged.

According to him, "the situation should not be presented in such a way that it somehow casts a shadow on all Russian sports, on the great achievements of our athletes". "We are talking about individual athletes and individual cases," Peskov said.

"Attempts to politicize sports, attempts to add character to sports of some kind of political instrument for achieving some aims, are destructive for sports, for international sports, and are unacceptable and inexcusable," Peskov said.

Earlier, it was reported that meldonium was found in the anti-doping samples provided by the Katusha rider Eduard Vorganov, the figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, the tennis player Maria Sharapova, the speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov, the short track speed skater Semyon Yelistratov and the volleyball player Alexander Markin.