Putin says whistleblowing on doping echoes Stalin’s purges
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that plans to encourage athletes to give evidence about doping remind him of denunciations during Josef Stalin’s purges.
While discussing a new plan of measures to fight drug use in sports, drawn up by a commission that Putin created last year, the Russian president was sharply critical of a section on encouraging whistleblowers.
“We know well that this institution (of whistleblowing), very sadly, is linked to tragic pages in the history of our country. This institution is linked to Stalin’s mass political repression,” he said.
During the 1930s, many in the Soviet Union were executed on trumped-up charges based on accusations by neighbours.