On October 26, 2017 a joint event of the Council of Europe, the Ministry of Sport of Russia and Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations of the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MGIMO) was held at the MGIMO. It was dedicated to the development of a new training course on "Rights and Obligations in Sport". This project is implemented within the framework of the joint Action Plan on Anti-Doping, implemented jointly by the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe.

The event was attended by the Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation Pavel Kolobkov.

The pilot training course will be developed by the European Institute of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Russian Foreign Ministry within the framework of the Council of Europe pan-European program "HELP". The aim of the project is to create a modern and accessible legal resource on legal rights and duties in sports designed for professional training and raising awareness of all the stakeholders.

According to the strategy of the HELP programme, the pilot course will be based on a combination of national and international sources of law, including the Council of Europe's sports conventions, which regulate, among other things, anti-doping, security and violence prevention at sports events and manipulation in sports.

"We have close contacts with the Council of Europe in a number of projects, we take part in all events, we participated in the development of the conventions on Sport," noted Pavel Kolobkov. – The tasks and problems existing in the sport are common for the whole world. Russia is one of the leading sports countries, and our initiatives influence the development of international sports legislation. At the same time, the support the Council of Europe and UNESCO is important for us in improving our Russian legislation.”

"The HELP program has existed for many years, but sports topics have never been touched upon. The Ministry of Sports of Russia jointly with the Council of Europe and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Russian Foreign Ministry decided to develop an appropriate free course designed to help sports managers, athletes, trainers and specialists in matters of legal literacy, knowledge of the basics of sports activities, the Minister stressed. - For the first time, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni addressed the initiative at the Sixth International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials Responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS VI), initiated by UNESCO, in July this year. The program course is one of the components of our work to improve the anti-doping system and of the plan which was agreed with the Council of Europe a year and a half ago. It is planned that the training course will be developed by the spring of 2018. I am sure the project has a good future. "

The event was also attended by Director General of the Directorate General for Human Rights and the Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Svetlana Zhurova, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrei Nesterenko, Chair of the Commission on sports law of the Association of Lawyers of Russia Sergey Alekseev, Deputy Director of the Department of European Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Ilya Subbotin, general secretary of the Russian Paralympic Committee Andrey Strokin and others.

(c) Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation