Russia to host European tourney

MOSCOW — Russia is bidding to host the 2023 edition of the European Games despite a backdrop of years of doping scandals.

Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov is working with regional officials on the Kazan bid and said late Tuesday the city has “unique sports infrastructure at both the Russian and international level.”

Kazan hosted the University Games in 2013, the world swimming championships two years later, and World Cup soccer games last year. World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren later alleged the University Games were used as a “trial run” for the vast doping cover-up when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics at Sochi in 2014.

McLaren alleged Russia led the medal table for the University Games in part thanks to “a defense for the Russian athletes” — cover-up orders from the Sports Ministry which led to eight Russian gold medalists having failed drug tests falsely reported as if they were clean.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listed Kazan alongside Sochi and St. Petersburg as a potential future host of the Summer Olympics in a 2017 interview with Olympic historian David Miller.

Russia last hosted the summer Games in Moscow in 1980.