Russian track and field athletes have been suspended from international competitions, including the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016. The official reason for the decision is the drug known as "meldonium." This drug was found in the samples of practically every other Russian athlete.
Meldonium is not a super effective booster, but, according to experts' estimates, it masks the presence of other pharmacological agents in the human body.
Recently, the "doping" scandal has shown a political and an economic side of it. For example, FLB investigators have found that the meldonium scandal is being promoted by the people, who used to work on the issue of "Litvinenko's poisoning."
It is worth recalling not even the real events with the participation of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who came to London to tell stories about the "criminal Putin regime," but how those events were presented in the British media. According to Western media, it was the "bloody regime" that poisoned Litvinenko with polonium. It was also said that the former FSB agent had written a statement about it before he died.
Strangely enough, he wrote the note in English - the language that Litvinenko had poor knowledge of. He did not even sign it - the note had only a facsimile. To crown it all, the British side did not provide autopsy results to Russia to prove whether there was polonium found in the body of the deceased.
The subject of polonium was promoted in the Western media by someone known as Lord Timothy Bell and his company Bell Pottinger. It just so happens that former employees of Bell Potting are involved in the campaign to promote the subject of "meldonium scandal" in the Western media now.
For example, the head of International Association of Athletics Federations, also a British Lord, is Sebastian Newbold Coe. In addition to "sports and administrative work," Mr. Coe has broad commercial interests, represented by three companies. We are interested in only one, the basic one, that provides "information services" and is called Sebastian Coe Limited. In 2016, a person named Rupesh Prashar took the position of the company's CFO. The time, when Mr. Prashar had the new job coincides with the start of the meldonium scandal against Russian athletes.
The hearty Anglo-Indian used to work at Bell Pottinger, where he also served as the chief financial officer. The time of his work at Bell Potting coincided with the promotion of the polonium scandal.
Meldonium or polonium - what difference does it make? Russia is always to blame - this is a typical position of the West. However, Mr. Bell and Mr. Coe have many years of cooperation in a wide variety of business projects.
It goes about lobbyist projects, information campaigns and the promotion of specific topics in the media. In general, William Browder is not the only man, who deals with media promotion in the UK - there is a whole company of people there.
In fact, the scandal with meldonium is a tip of the iceberg of corruption and lobbyism in British companies and international sports associations.
The links between the sitting head of the IAAF and the head of Bell Potting attracted the attention of not only journalists, but also Russian law enforcement agencies.
Several days ago, the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation delivered materials to investigate corruption at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to representative of the Ministry of Justice of France. It is believed that the French Ministry of Justice will take the case to an international level. The story may unveil many secrets of corruption in international sports organizations.