June 4 - Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko (pictured) claimed today they had already started their campaign to stamp out doping in nordic skiing even before being hit by sanctions by international ruling body FIS.

As reported on insidethegames yesterday, world skiing's governing body fined Russia's national skiing association €125,000 (£104,000/$152,000) after several cases of doping in their nordic skiing team.

FIS also demanded that several coaches and medical staff be sacked, including Anatoly Chepalov, coach of triple Olympic champion Julia Chepalova, who tested positive for the blood-booster Erythropoietin (EPO) in 2009.

They warned that if Russian skiers continued to be involved in a series of doping scandals then the federation faced being banned for four years, which would mean they would miss the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the first time Russia has hosted the Winter Games and a personal project of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"The national federations of nordic skiing and biathlon experienced serious problems with doping in recent years," Mutko admitted.

"However, we already assumed the measures for solving all these problems.

"We have changed the medical staff of both federations and seriously strengthened the coaching personnel.

"Besides, a completely new generation of young athletes came to replace the veterans in these disciplines.

"The situation in skiing and biathlon is rapidly changing for the better."

Mutko said the FIS sanctions were a "logical consequence" of the series of scandals that rocked Russian skiing and biathlon in the last two seasons, adding that he had already informed the world body about measures being taken to stamp out doping.

"We informed FIS about the measures that we've taken to fight doping in our skiing," Mutko said.

"The events of the last season and the Vancouver Olympics showed that we were taking the steps in the right direction.

"I believe we can overcome dope cheating in these disciplines in near future."

Six nordic skiers from Russia have been suspended for two years for doping since 2009.

Apart from Chepalova they included 2006 Olympic pursuit champion Yevgeny Dementiev and Alena Sidko, Turin sprint bronze medallist.



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