Kremlin questions about U.S. investigation of Russian doping scandal

Kremlin on Wednesday questioned the alleged U.S. Justice Department investigation into Russia's so-called state sponsored doping program.

"We treat with a certain degree of skepticism, misunderstanding and rejection the cases of extraterritorial application of the jurisdiction of U.S. courts, which have become quite widespread of late," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov voiced support to the readiness expressed by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko to cooperate in investigating and fighting doping abuse on individual basis without casting shadow on honest Russian athletes.

Meanwhile, Mutko also expressed his surprise at U.S. Justice Department's decision to probe Russia.

The minister claimed that doping is "not the problem with Russia only," while suggesting creating a unified international anti-doping system that could exclude all possibilities of manipulations.

The New York Times quoted on Tuesday two unnamed sources as saying that the U.S. Justice Department had opened an investigation into "state sponsored doping" by dozens of Russian top athletes.

In their inquiry, U.S. prosecutors are expected to scrutinize anyone who might have facilitated unclean competition in the U.S. or used the U.S. banking system to conduct a doping program, the newspaper said.

This report followed an interview by the newspaper of Russian anti-doping laboratory's former head, who claimed at least 15 Russian medal winners at Sochi Winter Olympics were part of a state-run doping program designed to enhance their performance.

Earlier in the day, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said in an online statement that it has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for a comprehensive investigation and full report on the alleged Russian state sponsored doping program.

"The IOC will instruct the Lausanne Anti-Doping Laboratory, where the Sochi samples are stored for ten years, to proceed in cooperation with WADA with their analysis in the most sophisticated and efficient way possible," the statement said.

The IOC also asked the Russian Olympic Committee to fully cooperate with all efforts in the WADA investigation. Endit