Moscow is due to host the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships next month and the country's record on doping is again under the microscope following claims in a British newspaper that its top athletes had been encouraged to take drugs in the build-up to London 2012.

That led to claims from Mutko that Britain itself had engaged in illegal practices during the Olympics, where Team GB finished above Russia in the medals table for the first time since they became an independent country more than 20 years ago.

"In London, there was a little house behind barbed wire, and British athletes went there, but they didn't allow us in, and that's a breach [of the rules]," said Mutko, currently attending the Summer Universiade in Kazan.

"If we did that at home in Sochi [for the 2014 Winter Olympics], we would just be ripped apart."

Mutko did not elaborate on more details of what he was referring to but went on to defend Russia's anti-doping record, even though there are currently more than 40 of the country's top athletes serving drugs bans.


Further investigations by insidethegames has established that Mutko was probably referring to the Team GB Performance Centre, located in the the Athletes' Village, which was where British athletes received physiotherapy treatment and other high performance and rehabilitative services.

It had been approved in advance of London 2012 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and was not behind barbed wire.

Mutko also claimed that Britain were behind a conspiracy to discredit Russia's World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited laboratory in Moscow.

"The goal is clear, to remove the status from our laboratory, so it isn't accredited, so another laboratory comes to Sochi, other people," said Mutko, who is also a member of FIFA's ruling Executive Committee.

The present allegations stemmed from Russia's victory last month in the European Team Championships in Gateshead, where they won the trophy for the third consecutive time as host nation Britain finished third, Mutko claimed.

"Our successes don't sit well with many people and they can't explain our success," he said.

"Our team at the European championships, with a second-string roster, beat the main British team.

"Of course they can't understand where these sorts of reserves come from.

"Our success is very simple - from the talent of our people, from coaching talent."