Moscow, Feb 8 (IANS) The world governing body for football, FIFA, is holding investigations in regard to two Russian footballers, Ruslan Kambolov and Ivan Knyazev, on suspicion of violating anti-doping regulations, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said.
“We initially received a list (from FIFA) with a request regarding 11 footballers, and now two of them, namely Kambolov and Knyazev, are under investigation,” Mutko told Tass news agency.
“The RFU (Russian Football Union) in this particular case is not a subject to doping control, this case has nothing to do with the national team and we can only request or grant information,” he said.
“Athletes undergo (doping) testing during tournaments, European cups and in their national teams.”
“We are absolutely open; Kambolov and Knyazev already testified and we will see where it all ends,” Mutko added.
In September 2016, the FIFA requested data from Russia regarding 11 footballers, who were mentioned in the McLaren Report of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Mutko announced at that time that doping samples of nine footballers from the list tested negative for banned performance enhancing drugs.