"We have lodged our official protest with Italy in relation to a search of the Russian biathlete and his personal trainer at the Biathlon World Championships in the Italian town of Anterselva, conducted in the early morning of 22 February. Russia said that such measures in relation to Russian athletes were unacceptable and disproportionate and noted the negative impact of this incident on the development of sports cooperation between our countries", Zakharova said at a briefing.
The spokeswoman added the Italian police had confirmed to Russian officials that "no clear evidence" was found during the search.
22 February 2020, 08:09 GMT
The search in the biathlete's room in Italy's Rasen-Antholz, also known as Anterselva, took place in the early hours of 22 February ahead of a competition which Loginov competed in.
Russian sports officials have said that the police targeted Loginov and his personal coach, Alexander Kasperovich, on a tip-off by the International Biathlon Union. Russian Biathlon Union President Vladimir Drachev said that the search was related to accreditation issues regarding Kasperovich and Loginov’s old doping case.
