In what, given the date, could be considered an attempt to "bury bad news", statements posted on the Russian Anti Doping Agency (RUSADA) website this morning explained only how each case relates to "doping rule violations based on the findings of the disciplinary committee."

The weightlifers banned are Mikhail Reznichenko, Tejmur Aleskerov, Oleg Musokhranov, Dmitry Srybnyj, Evgeniy Kolomiets and Yuriy Selyutin.

The best known of the athletes is 22-year-old Kolomiets, 22, a silver medallist at the 2011 World Junior Weightlifting Championships in the 94 kilogram class and who was third at this year's Russian Championships.

He has been banned for 10 years for a second doping offence, RUSADA said, without giving any details of what he tested positive for.

Selyutin has also been banned for 10 years for a second offence. 

He was suspended for two years in 2010 after testing positive for the substance metandienone, but no details have been given for this latest offence.

Srybny, Reznichenko and Aleskerov received two-year bans, while Musokhranov was banned for three months.

Reznichenko was another considered a good prospect for the future, having won the 77kg title at the Russian Junior Championships in October.

The weightlifters have been joined by female cyclists Elena Bocharnikova and Yana Bezrukov, each banned for two years.

Bocharnikova, in particular, was tipped for a bright future after finishing ninth in the road race at the Russian National Championships amid various performances on the European circuit.

In October, European 5,000m champion Olga Golovkina became the 32nd Russian athlete to be banned in 2013 ©AFP/Getty Images



These latest cases, although affecting less high profile athletes than in the past, comes at the end of a year which has been riddled with Russian doping violation across a multitude of different sports.

This has particularly affected athletics, where two former world and Olympic champions in Svetlana Krivelyova and Olga Kuzenkova were each banned for two years in April after a re-examination of past samples.

Kuzenkova, the 2004 Olympic women's hammer champion, tested positive after taking another title at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, while Krivelyova won the Barcelona 1992 Olympic shot put title and test positive 12 years later at Athens 2004.

In October European 5,000 metres champion Olga Golovkina became the 32nd Russian athlete to be banned in 2013 alone, while the sports of powerlifting, judo, roller-skating, BMX and track cycling and wushu are others to produce recent test failures.

Ahead of Russia hosting the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi next year, the winter disciplines have also been implicated, with national freestyle skiing champion Anna Orlovskaya receiving a two-year ban earlier this month.

Vast numbers of Russian biathletes, including the Turin 2006 champion and five time Olympic medallist Albina Akhatova, have also been implicated in doping scandals in recent years.