Russian intelligence tried to hack the electronic equipment of then World Anti-Doping Agency President Sir Craig Reedie, he claims in his recently published autobiography ©Getty Images

Sir Craig Reedie was targeted by the same Russian agent who allegedly poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal, he has claimed in his new autobiography.

The incident happened after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which Sir Craig led as President at the time, had published a report detailing the extent of state-sponsored doping in Russia.

Its publication on the eve of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro had led to Russian competitors being prevented from competing in several sports in the Brazilian city.

In December 2020, Russia was banned from taking part under its own flag in the next two Olympic Games - the re-arranged Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 - or having its anthem or its flag represented at other high-profile competitions.

"I found that one day I had five members of the UK National Crime Agency in our house at Bridge of Weir, west of Glasgow, to check on all my communications equipment - PC, laptop, iPad, and mobile phone - plus a two-hour interview," Sir Craig writes in Delivering London's Olympic Dream: A Long Life in Sport.

"I had never complained before about my involvement in sport, but that conviction was sorely tested when I was informed that one of the suspected hackers was the same GRU thug who had been identified as one of the two who was charged with the poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury."

Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent by Russian intelligence ©Getty Images
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent by Russian intelligence ©Getty Images

Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the United Kingdom’s intelligence services during the 1990s and early 2000s, along with his daughter Yulia were poisoned in 2018 with the Novichok nerve agent.

GRU agents Alexander Mishkin and Ruslan Boshirov were later charged by British authorities but have never faced trial after fleeing to Russia.

The Skripals were found slumped on a public bench in Salisbury, a city famous for its cathedral, and at the time the case prompted the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War.

A woman later died from Novichok poisoning after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which police believe had been used to smuggle the nerve agent into Britain.

The Skripals survived the attack and now reportedly live in New Zealand.

To read Sir Craig Reedie reveals in new book how Russian spies and Thomas Bach were out to get him click here.