The president of Spain's athletics federation, Jose Maria Odriozola, said in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo on Monday that Russia's victory, in which the team won more than a half of the medals in Gothenburg, raised suspicions, and that he would disclose information proving these suspicions at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) meeting in Beijing later in August.
"As far as I know, the Spanish side has claims over hemoglobin levels in the blood of Russian athletes," Balakhnichev said. "This raises the question of how they managed to obtain such information."
He said Odriozola had supposedly received information from a former Spanish national athletics team doctor, who currently holds a post in the IAAF, the governing body of world athletics.
He said the official had no right to disclose such information, and that "the IAAF has objections."
Balakhnichev said hemoglobin testing was applied only for skiers and cyclists, so the Spanish official would have to officially raise the issue with the IAAF board before launching this kind of test.
Russian coach Valery Kulichenko earlier described Odriozola's claim that his athletes had cheated as provocative.
"It's not the first case of Odriozola trying to provoke us. Our doping control system was tested and approved by the IAAF, and all of our athletes are under constant and complete control," Kulichenko said.
"We won 12 golds in Gothenburg, but we also won seven golds at the World Championship, where athletes from the U.S., Australia and Africa took part," he said.
Russia dominated in the unofficial team standings with 12 golds, 12 silvers and 10 bronzes, followed by Germany (4-4-2) and Belarus (4-3-2). Spain finished in fifth place with three golds, three silvers and five bronzes.
