The French financial prosecutor has issued arrest warrants for two former Russian athletics officials as part of its investigation into a doping cover-up involving Lamine Diack, the ex-boss of world athletics governing body the IAAF.
A spokesperson for the Parquet National Financier said that the warrants were issued for Valentin Balakhnichev, the former president of the All-Russia Athletic Federation, and ex-national team coach Alexei Melnikov.
Balakhnichev ran Russian athletics for nearly 25 years and also served as the IAAF's treasurer for almost decade before he, Melnikov and Diack's son Papa Massata Diack were banned from the sport for life in 2016 for their roles in a scheme to hide positive tests by Russian athletes in return for money.
These bans came two months after Lamine Diack was arrested by the French authorities in relation to corruption and money-laundering. Over three years later, the 85-year-old Senegalese is still on bail in France and now faces several charges linked to the doping cover-ups and vote-buying schemes.
A warrant was issued for Papa Massata Diack in 2017 but he has avoided arrest by fleeing to Senegal and there seems little prospect of Balakhnichev or Melnikov ever seeing the inside of a French prison cell either.
Balakhnichev, now 69, told the Russian news agency TASS on Tuesday that he knew nothing about the arrest warrant and said he was a pensioner who did not intend to travel abroad.
The French authorities are pursuing the cases because they believe much of the money involved was laundered in France or via French banks.
ARAF, now rebranded as the Russian Athletics Federation or RusAF, was suspended by the IAAF in 2015 for systemic doping and, unlike similar sanctions on its national Olympic and Paralympic committees and national anti-doping agency which have been lifted, that suspension remains in force today.
The Diacks have featured in another story this week as Japanese Olympic Committee president Tsunekazu Takeda was forced to quit on Monday after he was charged by the Parquet National Financier for his role in an alleged vote-buying scheme linked to Tokyo's successful bid for the 2020 Games.
The French believe Japanese payments of about €1.75m to a Singapore-based consultancy with links to Papa Massata Diack were intended for Olympic voters in Lamine Diack's pocket. Takeda, however, denies any wrongdoing and has vowed to clear his name.
