AFP: France issued an arrest warrant for the former head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation

In France, a court issued an arrest warrant for two former high-ranking Russian athletics officials, writes France24 , citing AFP. L"Équipe also reports The sports publication this .

Two sources of the French agency, who wished to remain anonymous, said that before completing the investigation, judicial investigators issued an arrest warrant for the former head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF) Valentin Balakhnichev and the former coach of the Russian athletics team in the endurance group Alexei Melnikov.

The charges were brought against him in connection with an investigation into a corruption scheme designed to conceal the doping of Russian athletes.

In 2014, the German television channel ARD released a film about the use of doping by Russian athletes. In the film, Igor, the husband and coach of track and field athlete Liliya Shobukhova, who was convicted of doping, said that the leadership of ARAF extorted money from her for participating in the 2012 Olympic Games. According to him, Balakhnichev and Melnikov were involved in extortion.

In turn, the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Lamine Diack and several other defendants in the case were accused of bribes for which they concealed cases of doping by Russian athletes.

After a doping scandal involving Russian athletes, Balakhnichev resigned in 2015. In 2016, the IAAF ethics committee suspended Balakhnichev and Melnikov for life.