The Kremlin on Friday expressed support for Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in a sample collected in December, and said it was convinced the situation was a misunderstanding.

"Hold your head up, you're a Russian, go proudly and beat everyone!" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing on Friday, referring to Valieva.

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Russian figure skater Valieva fails drug test for banned substance: agency

The positive result for trimetazidine was returned on February 8, one day after the Russian Olympic Committee won gold in the Beijing Winter Olympics' figure skating team event. 

The 15-year-old athlete was then provisionally suspended by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA). And the figure skating team event medals ceremony, originally scheduled for February 8, was also pushed off.

But the RUSADA on February 9 lifted her suspension, enabling her to continue at the Beijing Games following a challenge from the skater.

The International Olympic Committee has appealed against that decision.

The World Anti-Doping Agency said on Friday that it plans to lodge an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on RUSADA's decision to lift the temporary suspension.

The International Skating Union also announced it would exercise its right to appeal to the CAS against the decision to lift the provisional suspension on Valieva, without giving any further comment.

RUSADA on Friday said it's investigating Valieva's support team and said the result of her doping test in December had been held up because of COVID-19 cases at the Swedish laboratory that was analyzing it.

Valieva had a sample collected on December 25, 2021 at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

(With input from agencies)