British journalists receive death threats from Russia over Valieva controversy

A separate British newspaper journalist who asked Valieva whether she was a doper on Friday has also faced intense criticism from Russian members of parliament and online.

Anger among the Russian public and media also flared up again on Friday when a British journalist asked Valieva, who was found to have the angina drug trimetazidine in her body on a test taken on Christmas Day, whether she had doped and was a cheat.

Svetlana Zhurova, an Olympic speed skating champion and now a deputy of the State Duma in Russia, also criticised the questioner and the western media in general.