Valentin Balakhnichev is among those due to appear at the Court of Arbitration for Sport ©Getty Images

Former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) treasurer Valentin Balakhnichev has warned Russia "to prepare for the worst" before the release of the second part of the McLaren Report later this year.

Balakhnichev is preparing to appear before a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing in Lausanne where they will consider his appeal against life ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Papa Massata Diack, the son of former IAAF President Lamine, was also banned for life along, with long-distance running and race-walking coach Alexei Melnikov.

An IAAF panel ruled in January that the trio had been "guilty of blackmail" since 2011.

They are accused of being at the centre of a cabal of IAAF officials who accepted bribes in return for covering up of failed drugs tests.

All three, who deny wrongdoing, will have their appeals heard between tomorrow and Thursday (November 17).

Papa Massata Diack is also among those facing a CAS hearing in Lausanne tomorrow ©Getty Images
Papa Massata Diack is also among those facing a CAS hearing in Lausanne tomorrow ©Getty Images

It is alleged that they received payments of £435,000 ($634,000/€583,000) from Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova.

Former IAAF anti-doping director Gabriel Dollé was banned for five years but will not face a CAS panel this week.

Balakhnichev, previously the national athletics coach of the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1984, also believes that Russia is likely to be castigated when the second part of the McLaren investigation into state sponsored doping in the country is published next month.

Balakhnichev believes that reports published exclusively by insidethegames yesterday that an extra $500,000 (£396,000/€460,000) funding will be given to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as long as McLaren cooperates with their investigations into Russian doping will worsen their position.

This is because, he thinks, the two organisations are now more likely to work together.

He believes that WADA's "reputation is at stake" and they will "by any means prove that McLaren was right and knowingly put the IOC in a stupid situation before the Olympics in Rio".

"Russia should prepare for the worst case scenario," Balakhnichev wrote on Facebook.

McLaren is examining allegations that Russia operated a state-run system in which tainted doping samples were illegally replaced by clean ones at events including the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.

It is possible that athletics competitions including the 2013 World Championships in Moscow could also have been affected.