No doping scandals with Russians in Vancouver - sports minister

Russian athletes will not face discrimination by doping officers at the Winter Olympics, Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said, adding that he hoped there would be no drug-related scandals in Vancouver.

Russian athletes will not face discrimination by doping officers at the Winter Olympics, Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko said, adding that he hoped there would be no drug-related scandals in Vancouver.

"I don't think [that the Russian team will be discriminated against]. It's the Olympic Games, that sort of thing cannot happen. All Russian athletes left for the Games 'clean.' I hope they understand their responsibility," Mutko said.

The statement comes a month after the International Ski Federation (FIS) disqualified two Russian female skiers, Yulia Chepalova and Natalia Matveyeva, on accusations of doping use.

Before the opening of the 2008 Olympics in China, seven Russian female athletes were disqualified from the Games after they were ruled to have switched urine samples before tests for performance-enhancing drugs.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge expressed concern on Monday over doping cases involving Russian athletes.

"We have indeed been concerned by the number of positive cases," Rogge said, adding that he had raised the issue with President Dmitry Medvedev.

The IOC and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will deliver a very strict doping control program, with plans to conduct over 2,000 tests during the Games.

FRANKFURT/VANCOUVER, February 10 (RIA Novosti)