MOSCOW — A Russian court has ruled that a former top sports official who blew the whistle on doping violations will be arrested if he ever sets foot back in his native land.
The ruling against Grigory Rodchenkov was made in absentia last week, on Sept. 21, and not revealed until Thursday, when it was reported by several Russian news agencies. He had been accused of “abuse of official powers” which lead to “grave consequences.”
Mr. Rodchenkov, the former head of the Anti-Doping Center in Moscow, had disclosed what he described as a state-run scheme to tamper with bottles containing urine samples of Russian athletes during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.