MOSCOW—The Kremlin accused the U.S. government on Friday of pushing for Russia’s exclusion from the Olympics. Read more: With 2018 Olympics approaching, Canada calls on IOC to move quickly on Russian doping sanctionsArticle Continued BelowDoping won’t keep athletes out of Olympics, Russian IOC member says In televised comments on Thursday, Putin said the IOC depended on sponsorship income “and in turn clear signals are being given to these sponsors by certain American bodies. Russia is already under IOC investigation over allegations it operated a state-backed doping program including swapping out dirty samples at the drug-testing laboratory for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Neither Putin nor Peskov specified which specific U.S. government bodies might be involved in the alleged pressuring of the IOC. Putin’s suggestion of U.S. meddling in the Russian election comes amid investigations in the U.S. into alleged interference in last year’s presidential vote.

Source: thestar October 20, 2017 13:52 UTC