Russia "will not accept the outcome" of WADA's McLaren report, a condition for the reinstatement of its national anti-doping agency, a senior official from the country said on Thursday, according to Tétrault-Farber & Keating of REUTERS. WADA said on Wednesday that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency "had passed 19 criteria on the roadmap to compliance but plenty of roadblocks remain, with 12 hurdles still to clear before reinstatement." The body has demanded that authorities responsible for Russia's anti-doping program, including the Ministry of Sport and the National Olympic Committee, "publicly accept the reported outcomes of the McLaren Investigation." Vitaly Smirnov, who heads a state-backed anti-doping commission, said, "As for the report, we have repeatedly said that it contains certain contentious positions and provisions. Undoubtedly no one is going to accept this report." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov "did not say whether the country would be willing to publicly accept the outcomes of the McLaren report." Peskov: "Concerning the different reports about this, there are some elements with which Moscow does not agree" (REUTERS, 8/2).
