Putin orders action over explosive doping claims

Moscow: Russia must do everything it can to eradicate doping, President Vladimir Putin has said, as his country faced a possible ban from the Olympics over allegations of “state-supported” drug abuse in athletics.

At a crisis meeting of Russian sports chiefs, Putin said yesterday that the country must carry out its own inquiry into the World Anti-Doping Agency allegations but cautioned that any punishment should be “individual” and not collective.