Victor Maygurov: “I don’t see any insurmountable obstacles in the reinstatement procedure of RBU”

More than a month has passed since the official delegation of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) headed by President Olle Dahlin held meetings in the Olympic Committee with the leadership of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), the head of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov and the leadership of RUSADA.

At the time 12 criteria were announced for the return to the status of a fully valid member of the IBU. The changes that have taken place during this time were presented to the ROC Information Service by the Vice-President of RBU Viktor Maygurov after today’s meeting of RBU and IBU working groups in Moscow.

“Today’s meeting was devoted to a detailed discussion of the criteria that we had previously thoroughly studied and worked out together with colleagues from ROC, the Ministry of Sport and RUSADA,” said Viktor Maygurov. “The representatives of IBU were interested in our opinion on various interpretations and what required clarification from our side,” he added.

– Did you reach a consensus?

– Of course. Now we have a clear understanding of all the conditions for official reinstatement. We have outlined a roadmap and in the middle of January we will present the first interim report, which will be considered at the next meeting of the IBU Executive Committee on January 30.

– What assistance does the Olympic Committee of Russia provide in this regard?

– On the part of ROC and the Ministry of Sport we get maximum support. In particular, the ROC Legal Department carried out a legal review of the reinstatement criteria.

– Who represented the IBU today?

– The organization’s general secretary, Martin Küchenmeister and member of the Executive Committee, Franz Steinle. Our side was represented by me and the executive director of RBU Sergei Golikov, as well as representatives of RUSADA.

– Was the incident with our biathlonists at the start of the second stage of the World Cup in Hochfilzen discussed?

– No, it wasn’t. All the issues related to the Austrian police raid were discussed and resolved earlier.

– How do you assess the chances of RBU to be fully reinstated?

– As of today, insurmountable obstacles for this do not exist. We expect that next year in autumn, the Executive Committee of IBU will make such a recommendation to Congress.