* IOC calls for disciplinary procedures against dopers LONDON — The whistleblower who sparked the global investigation into doping in Russian athletics has called for the sport's authorities to also look at countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia. Andrey Baranov, a Russian sports agent, wrote a signed deposition to world athletics' governing body the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) in April 2014 outlining bribery and extortion related to doping in Russian athletics. It led to the bombshell report published Monday by an independent commission of the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) that revealed "state-supported" doping in Russian athletics and called for the country to be suspended from the sport. But Baranov told Wednesday's edition of The Guardian newspaper: "It is wrong just to be focusing on Russia. There should be a similar investigation into countries like Kenya and Ethiopia too. "Their top athletes are earning far more than the Russians. Yet their levels of testing are very limited." Kenya has long faced accusations of doping and Dick Pound, the former WADA president who led the independent commission, said the country "has a real problem and has been very slow to acknowledge it." Baranov's deposition to the IAAF revealed that officials from the Russian athletics federation had extorted $480,000 from his client, marathon-runner Liliya Shobukhova, who was banned and stripped of her titles last year due to anomalies in her biological passport. The Guardian reported that one of the officials was Russian coach Alexei Melnikov, who the WADA report recommended should be banned for life. Several senior IAAF figures are also under investigation due to Baranov's testimony and he admitted that he was worried about the potential consequences of speaking out. "Of course I am worried, but what are you going to do?" he said. "It had to be done for the future." Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, canceled a meeting with sports leaders, because of heavy rain in Sochi. Russia, however, announced it would be ready to appoint a foreign expert to head its anti-doping laboratory, the sports minister said, after the former director of the facility quit following the lab's suspension over allegations from the WADA. In related development, former world athletics (IAAF) president Lamine Diack resigned as honorary member of the International Olympic Committee following the launch of a formal investigation against the Senegalese for suspected corruption and money-laundering, the IOC said. Diack, who was already provisionally suspended by the IOC and has also resigned as president of the International Athletics Foundation, is alleged to have received more than one million euros ($1.07 million) in bribes in 2011 to cover up positive doping tests of Russian athletes. The IOC said Wednesday competitors, coaches or officials mentioned in the WADA report who were proven to have violated doping regulations should be punished and stripped of any medals.
