University lecturer Yury Ganus has been appointed head of Russia's drug-testing agency RUSADA, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) said on August 31.
ROC President Aleksandr Zhukov said Ganus, 53, was chosen from a list of some 700 candidates after a meeting of the Russian Olympic and Paralympic committees.
RUSADA was suspended from drug testing by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 2015 following an independent investigation that determined state-sponsored systematic violations of antidoping regulations.
Most of Russia’s track-and-field athletes have been banned from competing internationally.
Some of the country’s athletes have been allowed to participate as “neutrals” after they were able to prove they were adequately tested for drugs over a lengthy period by non-Russian agencies.
Russian authorities, while denying there was a state-backed doping program, have vowed to follow international recommendations in an effort to get the RUSADA suspension lifted.
Zhukov said the main goal for Ganus would be to get RUSADA ready for a WADA audit scheduled for late next month.
The organizations did not immediately release details about Ganus’s background, but he is listed as an senior lecturer at Bauman Moscow State Technical University. His background includes several national and international business leadership posts.
“The main task is to get all Russian sportspeople and federations readmitted to international competition in short order, to get restrictions on holding international competitions on Russian soil lifted, and to integrate RUSADA's work into WADA's international system," he said.