Russia's parliament on Wednesday initially backed legislation making it a crime to incite an athlete to use doping, as the country lobbies to overturn a doping-related ban against its athletes.
The bill, which 436 lawmakers backed in the first of three readings, would punish trainers and medical staff for inciting athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs.
It makes forcing an athlete to take drugs without their consent punishable by up to five years in jail.
Inciting a minor to dope or resorting to violence or threats to force an athlete to take illegal drugs would be punishable by up to one year in prison.
The minimum fine for inciting an athlete to dope would be 500,000 rubles ($7,600), according to the bill.
In Russia it is not a criminal offence for athletes themselves to use performance-enhancing drugs, although the possibility of such legislation is under discussion.
The sports ministry said in a statement that legislation was backed "due to the increasing frequency of violations to anti-doping rules" and because of the state's "need to take harsh regulatory measures" against the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Lawmaker Dmitry Svishchev, the head of the lower house of parliament's sports committee and one of the bill's authors, told AFP he hoped it would be signed into law before the legislature's summer break that begins next week.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) provisionally suspended Russia in November over a bombshell report containing evidence of state-sponsored doping and corruption in Russian athletics.
The IAAF will rule Friday on Russia's participation in the Rio Olympics.
"We are showing through our actions that the state doesn't play a role in doping in Russia," Svishchev said.
Moscow has announced a series of measures in a bid to reinstate its athletics federation in time for the country's track and field stars to compete at the Rio Olympics in August.
The sports ministry announced last month that it will introduce lessons about doping in schools throughout the country starting next year to reform attitudes about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The ministry also said in April that it was hiring two foreign experts to assist the country with reforming its scandal-ridden anti-doping programme.
Russia’s parliament on Wednesday initially backed legislation making it a crime to incite an athlete to use doping, as the country lobbies to overturn a doping-related ban against its athletes.
The bill, which 436 lawmakers backed in the first of three readings, would punish trainers and medical staff for inciting athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs.
It makes forcing an athlete to take drugs without their consent punishable by up to five years in jail.
Inciting a minor to dope or resorting to violence or threats to force an athlete to take illegal drugs would be punishable by up to one year in prison.
The minimum fine for inciting an athlete to dope would be 500,000 rubles ($7,600), according to the bill.
In Russia it is not a criminal offence for athletes themselves to use performance-enhancing drugs, although the possibility of such legislation is under discussion.
The sports ministry said in a statement that legislation was backed “due to the increasing frequency of violations to anti-doping rules” and because of the state’s “need to take harsh regulatory measures” against the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Lawmaker Dmitry Svishchev, the head of the lower house of parliament’s sports committee and one of the bill’s authors, told AFP he hoped it would be signed into law before the legislature’s summer break that begins next week.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) provisionally suspended Russia in November over a bombshell report containing evidence of state-sponsored doping and corruption in Russian athletics.
The IAAF will rule Friday on Russia’s participation in the Rio Olympics.
“We are showing through our actions that the state doesn’t play a role in doping in Russia,” Svishchev said.
Moscow has announced a series of measures in a bid to reinstate its athletics federation in time for the country’s track and field stars to compete at the Rio Olympics in August.
The sports ministry announced last month that it will introduce lessons about doping in schools throughout the country starting next year to reform attitudes about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The ministry also said in April that it was hiring two foreign experts to assist the country with reforming its scandal-ridden anti-doping programme.
