ANTHOLZ /Italy/, February 13. /TASS/. Russia’s 2014 Olympic Champion in biathlon Evgeny Ustyugov has filed a lawsuit with a court of Austria against the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which initiated again a doping probe against him, President of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Vladimir Drachev told TASS on Thursday.

According to reports earlier in the day, the IBU opened a new probe against Ustyugov, who was earlier acquitted of alleged violations of anti-doping regulations. The first accusations of anti-doping violations were voiced in regard to Ustyugov in August 2018.

Accusation of doping abuse were also voiced against three more Russian biathletes jointly with Ustyugov and they were Svetlana Sleptsova, Alexander Pechenkin and Alexander Chernyshov. The latter two were slapped with suspension in June 2019.

"Evgeny Ustyugov has filed a lawsuit with an Austrian state court," Drachev said. "Therefore, it will be a dispute not only at the level of an athlete and the IBU."

"For the first time in the history of biathlon, a person filed a lawsuit not with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but with a state court," he added.

Ustyugov, 34, is a two-time Olympic champion. He won his first gold in mass start at the Winter Olympics in Canada and his second gold at the 2014 Olympics in Russia’s Sochi in team relay event. After the Olympics on his home soil Ustyugov announced his retirement from sports.