Danil Lysenko: Officials suspended over anti-doping violations involving high-jumper

Danil Lysenko followed up silver at 2017 World Championships with gold at the World Indoors

The president of Russian athletics and senior officials have been suspended for anti-doping rule breaches involving high jumper Danil Lysenko.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said the provisional suspensions were linked to an inquiry into whereabouts violations committed by the world indoor champion.

Lysenko and his coach have also been suspended.

Russia has been banned from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015.

That followed a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) which found evidence of widespread doping in the sport.

Some athletes from the country have been able to compete under a neutral status, although last year Lysenko had that revoked by world governing body IAAF because of his failure to provide whereabouts information.

The AIU said: "A number of senior federation officials, including the Russian athletics president Dmitry Shlyakhtin and executive director Alexander Parkin, the athlete and his coach, have been charged with tampering and/or complicity under the anti-doping rules and been provisionally suspended.

"This follows a 15-month AIU investigation (in co-operation with Russia anti-doping agency Rusada) which concluded that federation officials had been involved in the provision of false explanations and forged documents to the AIU in order to explain whereabouts failures by the athlete."

The AIU said the Russian athletics federation has until 12 December to respond to the notice of charges.

'It doesn't bode well for Tokyo 2020' - analysis

Alex Capstick, BBC Sports News correspondent

Russia's official return to international competition in track and field now seems more remote than ever. The charges brought by the AIU are serious and undermine attempts to persuade World Athletics that the suspension, in place since the country was accused of running a "state sponsored" and "systematic" doping programme in 2015, should be lifted.

The sport's governing body has become increasingly frustrated with Russia's response to the conditions laid out for its return, but that has been compounded now that senior officials have been charged with covering up doping violations. At the moment it's not clear what further sanctions Russia could face - a formal expulsion has been mentioned. It certainly doesn't bode well for the chances of Russian athletes competing in their national colours at next year's Tokyo Olympics.

It's a scenario that could extend to the entire Russian Olympic team. Earlier this week it emerged that Wada will receive a recommendation to reinstate a ban on the country for non-compliance after discrepancies were found in drug testing data from a Moscow laboratory.