Moscow, Dec 24 (IANS): Russian athletics coach Vladimir Mokhnev, the former coach of Russian doping whistleblower Yuliya Stepanva, has been suspended for 10 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The CAS on Friday said Mokhnev was suspended for trafficking of banned substances. CAS also suspended Russian track and field athlete Anastasiya Bazdyreva for two years, reports Tass.

Russian ex-doping official Vitaly Stepanov and his wife, Russian runner Yulia, were in the centre of a series of documentaries on alleged doping abuse in Russian sports aired by German TV Channel ARD in December 2014.

The film demonstrated a video where former coach of Yulia, Mokhnev continued training, though the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had dismissed him for life.

The series of German documentaries prompted a reaction from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which ruled early last year to set up an independent body to investigate the issue.