MOSCOW, Nov 20 — Russian athletics federation acting president Vadim Zelichenok today warned athletes against competing abroad after world athletics’ ruling body the IAAF informed the ARAF that some were violating an international ban.

The IAAF have provisionally suspended the ARAF from international competition over claims of state-sponsored doping revealed in a shocking report by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission.

“We’ve got information about three cases of a ban violation by our athletes,” said athletics federation secretary general Mikhail Butov.

“We’re currently examining the situation. We’ll take a decision on these cases pretty soon.”

Butov did not name the athletes although Russian runner Viktor Ugarov is facing sanctions after competing in, and winning, a marathon in Japan last weekend.

“It doesn’t matter why the ban has been broken,” the R-Sport news agency quoted Zelichenok as saying.

“The culprits should be responsible for their deeds along with the athletes, who have used the banned medications.

“It’s a matter of discipline of the athletes and the fault of the events organisers, who allowed them to compete.

“But we don’t want to be out for blood. We hope there’s a possibility to mitigate a punishment for those who violated the ban.” — AFP