A court in France issued an arrest warrant for the former head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation

A court in France has issued an arrest warrant for the former head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) Valentin Balakhnichev. It is reported by AFP, citing informed sources.

According to L'equipe , an arrest warrant has also been issued for the former coach of the Russian national athletics team Alexei Melnikov.

It is assumed that former officials are accused of fraud and corruption: Balakhnichev and Melnikov are suspected of having paid the former head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Lamine Diack to hide the positive doping tests of Russian athletes.

“I myself have not seen any documents, only news in the media, and I have no idea what actions they can take. If I ended up on their territory, I would have to take into account Lamine Diack, who has been under arrest there since 2015. I passed as a witness, which I remained, and now let's see what happens next, ” said in a conversation with Match.TV. Balakhnichev

ARAF President Valentin Balakhnichev resigned in February 2015 after accusations from the International Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) about the creation of a state doping support system in Russia. In November of the same year, the International Association of Athletics stripped the ARAF of its membership, and in January 2016, Balakhnichev was disqualified for life due to allegations of corruption.