Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says there is no proof that a recent cyberattack on a database of the world's main anti-doping regulator originated in Russia.
"How can you prove that the hackers are Russian?" Mutko asked at a press conference on September 14 in Athens, Greece. "You blame Russia for everything, it is very in fashion now."
The minister spoke a day after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said a Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear had leaked confidential medical records of some female members of the U.S. team which competed at the Rio Olympics last month.
The hackers released details of medication taken by the athletes under therapeutic-use exemptions that allow for the use of banned substances.
The scandal broke after the entire Russian Paralympic team and nearly 120 athletes from the country's Olympic squad were barred from competing in Rio, after an investigation found that Moscow ran a state-sponsored sports doping program.
Any possible participation of the Russian government or secret services in the hacking "is out of question," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 13.
