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Moscow Court Seizes Russian Doping Whistle-Blower's Assets


Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia's anti-doping laboratory (file photo)
Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia's anti-doping laboratory (file photo)

A court in Moscow has the seized assets of the former director of Russia's anti-doping laboratory, after he publicly detailed a vast state-sponsored system to help Russian athletes improve their performance.

The Basman District Court said on August 25 that the ruling to seize Grigory Rodchenkov's property was issued on August 12.

Rodchenkov, who has been charged with abuse of authority, fled to the United States where earlier this year he detailed a sophisticated system involving security agents to hide tainted urine samples during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Rodchenkov's testimony was used during an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency into state-sponsored doping in Russia.

After the report was released, all but one of Russia's track-and-field team was banned from the Rio Olympics while all Russian competitors in other sports had to prove they were clean by meeting several criteria in order to be eligible to compete at Rio.

The Kremlin has slammed Rodchenkov's statements as a "turncoat's slander."

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax

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