Ex-ARAF Head Files Complaint With IOC Against Pound for Calls to Boycott Russia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The former head of All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) said Friday that he had lodged a complaint with the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Ethics Commission against Richard Pound, the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), for his anti-Russia comments.

"I have indeed filed a complaint against Pound with the IOC Ethics Commission… In particular, [Pound] gave unacceptable prompts with regards to Russia on how to deprive it of 2018 World Cup… It was a hint to all soccer countries to boycott Russia," Valentin Balakhnichev told R-Sport.

Balakhnichev added that Pound had been preparing a complaint against him while working for WADA, which cast a shadow on his impartiality.

Earlier in January, Pound said that Russia could lose the right to host the World Cup if a number of key teams refused to participate.

Pound headed a commission investigating doping in Russia, which released a report in 2015 accusing Moscow of supporting a nationwide doping scheme. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) was suspended as a result and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) later banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his 2016 end-of-year press conference, denounced the allegations of state-sanctioned doping system in Russia, but admitted the existence of individual cases of doping abuse and vowed to work with international agencies on countering the problem.