‘Wild allegations’: Russian Foreign Ministry hits back at Austrian doping probe into biathlon team

The Russian Foreign Ministry has denounced the actions by Austrian police officers who paid an unexpected late-night visit to the Russian biathlon team’s camp to question members on alleged doping violations.

The surprise visit by the Austrian police took place in Hochfilzen, where the Russian squad is based as it prepares for a Biathlon World Cup event.

READ MORE: Austrian police question Russian biathlon team on suspicion of doping violations

Ten team members, including biathletes, coaches and doctors, are reportedly suspected of violating doping regulations during the 2017 World Championship in Austria.

“During the night there was somewhat wild information from Austria detailing that representatives of the Austrian police visited the Russian training camp to hand over notifications regarding doping accusations against some of our leading athletes,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"I really don’t understand what’s going on in Europe and what traditions have started to emerge there to make a night raid on the Russian camp on the eve of important sports competitions. They created a strange, destabilizing and depressing situation of threats while trying to explain something and hand over some notifications,” she added.

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It remains unclear what kind of charges have been brought against the Russians, but Alexander Loginov, who is on the controversial list of suspects, clarified that the Austrian authorities have been investigating alleged “manipulations with blood transfusion.”

Since the 2017 World Championship in Hochfilzen Russian biathletes have undergone multiple doping checks with no positive tests emerging.