MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denied the existence of any state-sponsored doping programme in the country amid a series of doping allegations that have battered the country's sports community.
"There is no support for doping at the state level and there cannot be any," Xinhua news agency quoted Putin as saying at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He added that Moscow is "categorically against any doping", and vowed to fight against doping in sport at the state level.
In May, the New York Times published a report claiming that various Russian athletes had used banned substances during the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi under a government-sponsored scheme.
Putin said Russia's Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee are conducting their own investigation into the report.