Russia’s Athletics Federation (VFLA) wants to see an unedited version of the material used by German journalist Hajo Seppelt in his documentary about alleged widespread doping in Russian sport.

“The federation has demanded an unedited version of Seppelt’s material to find out what exactly those who took part in the documentary actually said,” lawyer Artem Patsev told the Russian news agency R-Sport.

“Seppelt has not made the video recordings available yet. The President of the VFLA, Valentin Balakhnichev, gave an official request for the material and asked that copies were also sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Association of Athletics Federations.”

The programme, broadcast in three parts by ZDF/ARD, featured an undercover video of what it said were Russian athletes and coaches admitting to covering up positive doping tests.

The allegations have not been verified by Reuters and the head of Russia’s Athletics Federation denounced the claims as “a pack of lies”.

Balakhnichev has stood down from his role as treasurer of theInternational Association of Athletics Federations while the claims are investigated.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.