May 29, 2018 – Russia has apparently admitted that there was systematic doping in the country in a letter to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and concurs with the findings in the International Olympic Committee’s Schmid Report reports Inside the Games and Daily Nation.

But the letter falls short of accepting the findings of the McLaren report. It was reportedly co-signed by Kolobkov, ROC President Alexander Zhukov and Russian Paralympic Committee President Vladimir Lukin, and addressed to WADA president Sir Craig Reedie and both Thomas Bach and Andrew Parsons, respective Presidents of the IOC and International Paralympic Committee (IPC),

While not a big move it’s a step in the right direction says WADA as Russia tries to win back approval from the agency and have the suspension of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) lifted.

“We’ve been exchanging correspondence now for what, a year or a year-and-a-half,” said Reedie, during a press conference in Montreal on May 17. “There have been many different variations of the words. I think this one is the most encouraging one.”

Two key conditions imposed by WADA, have yet to be acknowledged, first granting access to the Moscow laboratory and samples that may have been stored there, as well as Russia fully accepting the findings of the McLaren report which Kolobkov says,”…. contains unsubstantiated conclusions that can only be proved in court, after a thorough investigation, once irrefutable evidence is presented,”

Inside the Games here
Daily Nation here.