The 24-year-old failed to turn up to three of his required out-of-competition doping tests within a period of 12 months, as reported by Russian state news agency TASS. 

Athletes in all sports must register their whereabouts at certain times so they can be drug-tested at random.

Missing three tests in 12 months is the equivalent of a doping failure.

Russian Snowboarding Federation (RSF) President Denis Tikhomirov revealed that Avtaneev received the suspension two months ago.

"A decision on Avtaneev's suspension was made on October 29," he said. 

"He had three flags in ADAMS (Anti-Doping Administration & Management System) database as he failed to provide information about his whereabouts."

RSF will appeal the decision, as reported by Sputnik, but if this is unsuccessful, Avtaneev would be unable to participate in qualifiers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. 

The decision will also affect Avtaneev after the ban ends, with the snowboarder unlikely to be able to compete as a neutral following the WADA Executive Committee's decision to ban Russia from international events for four years. 

Russian athletes will only be allowed to compete under a neutral flag if they can "demonstrably" prove they are above suspicion of using drugs.

Avtaneev earned gold in the half-pipe competition at the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade, also competing at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and Pyeongchang 2018 under neutral status. 

insidethegames has contacted the International University Sports Federation for comment regarding Avtaneev's Universiade gold medal.