VENICE, Italy -- A reputed Russian mobster charged with fixing two figure skating events in the worst judging scandal in Olympics history insisted he knows nothing about the Salt Lake City Games and that the case against him is a ''farce,'' his lawyer said after meeting with him Friday.

Russian pair plans to sue

MOSCOW -- Russia's Olympic pairs champions plan to sue U.S. television networks for using pictures of them in connection with coverage of a reputed Russian mobster accused of trying to fix two figure skating competitions at the Winter Games. Anton Sikharulidze and Yelena Berezhnaya spoke on Russian television channels Friday, but it was not immediately clear which networks the pair planned to sue. ''I saw our pictures appearing on the screen while they were talking about some kind of Russian mafia,'' an angry Sikharulidze said. ''Together with people who are working with us, we are preparing to sue the television channels.'' Russian Olympic Committee spokesman Gennady Shvets told The Associated Press that its officials and lawyers met Friday to work out a strategy for supporting the athletes' lawsuits. Shvets derided the U.S. charges against Tokhtakhounov, saying they were ''absolutely stupid'' and ''funny as a cartoon.'' ''After the uproar calms down, they will realize that all this is sheer nonsense,'' he said. Russian Olympic Committee chairman Leonid Tyagachev later issued a statement, pledging to defend the skaters from ''unjust attacks, unfounded accusations and provocative rumors'' using ''all available means,'' according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. Sikharulidze and Berezhnaya beat Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in the pairs at Salt Lake City. A French judge said the next day she had been pressured to vote for the Russians, who slipped during their routine while the Canadians were virtually flawless. The scandal led to a duplicate set of gold medals awarded to the Canadian pairs team. Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested Wednesday by Italian police on U.S. charges of conspiring to buy off Olympic judges. Tokhtakhounov, an Uzbek-born Russian citizen long living abroad, is accused of scheming to persuade a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs team and a Russian judge to vote in turn for the French ice dancing team. Both teams won gold medals. Sikharulidze said neither he nor Berezhnaya nor anyone else on the Russian Olympic team had contacts with Tokhtakhounov. He called the charges ''yet another political action.'' The charges against Tokhtakhounov have been ridiculed by Russian sports officials, athletes and public figures. They interpreted them as a continuation of what was widely seen in Russia as unfair treatment of its athletes in Salt Lake City by both Olympic judges and the U.S. media. ''It's time for the Canadian and U.S. people to calm down and be happy with the (duplicate) gold medals they were given as a gift,'' said Sikharulidze, his voice strained with emotion. ''These people must be happy with the gold medals they were awarded I don't know what for.'' With Berezhnaya standing next to him at St. Petersburg's airport, Sikharulidze contended the U.S. television networks were profiting from the latest charges against Tokhtakhounov to widen their audience. ''This scandal will benefit the TV people and show organizers since it helps raise the public interest in figure skating and increases attendance as people want to see these 'mobsters on ice,''' Sikharulidze said. -- The Associated Press

Lawyer Luca Saldarelli, accompanied by a Russian interpreter, met his client for the first time at Venice's Santa Maria Maggiore prison Friday.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested in Venice by Italian police after a U.S. criminal complaint was filed. Italian police said the Russian may have been in contact with at least six Olympic judges in a plot to fix medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

''He's absolutely surprised,'' Saldarelli said. ''He doesn't know anything about the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. He's not even a fan of figure skating.''

Saldarelli called his first meeting with his client ''very positive. He obviously feels he has done nothing wrong.''

''His job is he's an intermediary in some international affairs. That's all I can say,'' the lawyer said. ''He lives in Rome and in Forte dei Marmi.''

Asked what his client had to say in general about the case, Saldarelli replied: ''He said it's a farce.''

Tokhtakhounov is accused of scheming to get a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs team, and a Russian judge to vote in turn for the French ice dancing team, according to the criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court. Both teams won gold medals.

Saldarelli indicated on Thursday he expected Tokhtakhounov to plead innocent and fight extradition.

The skaters on the Russian pairs team said Friday they planned to sue U.S. television networks for using pictures of them in connection with coverage of the reputed mobster. Anton Sikharulidze and Yelena Berezhnaya spoke on Russian television channels, but it was not immediately clear which American networks the pair planned to sue.

''I saw our pictures appearing on the screen while they were talking about some kind of Russian mafia,'' Sikharulidze said. ''Together with people who are working with us, we are preparing to sue the television channels.''

The Russian Olympic Committee said it would meet with lawyers in support of the lawsuits.

''These events resemble the theater of absurd,'' spokesman Gennady Shvets said, according to the Interfax news agency. ''It's clearly a dirty and foolish insinuation that undermines respect for Russian sportsmen.''

The judging scandal resulted in a duplicate set of gold medals awarded to the Canadian team that finished second to the Russians.

Saldarelli described Tokhtakhounov as ''a friend of some great Russian athletes, but not Olympians. He has a passion for soccer, being an ex-player.''

The lawyer said he was hired to represent Tokhtakhounov just two days earlier.

On Thursday, an Italian organized-crime unit released transcripts of wiretapped phone conversations between Tokhtakhounov and unnamed co-conspirators during the games.

''We have recorded a conversation in which the suspect indicates that six judges may have been involved,'' police Col. Giovanni Mainolfi said. ''However, we have no specific evidence against these judges at this time.''

He did not identify the judges. Nine judges vote on each of the figure skating events.

U.S. prosecutors say an unidentified ''co-conspirator'' connected with the Russian Skating Federation did the legwork after being contacted by Tokhtakhounov. In exchange for fixing the events, U.S. prosecutors say, the reputed mobster wanted a visa to return to France, where he once lived.

The U.S. Olympic Committee urged ''aggressive action'' in a letter to International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.

''Any connection between organized crime and the Olympic Games must be dealt with in the strongest possible manner, using all available resources and means,'' the USOC said.

International Skating Union president Ottavio Cinquanta said he had never heard of Tokhtakhounov. Asked whether the ISU could be forced to cancel or review the Salt Lake City results, Cinquanta said, ''I don't think so. I don't know.''

IOC Director-General Francois Carrard said that Russian media reports that the IOC was considering redistributing the medals were ''totally premature.''

''We first would like to know the facts, Carrard said. ''When the facts are known, we will see if anything has to be done. Everybody is shocked at the allegations.''

Rogge: 'The athletes are not guilty'
Rogge said the athletes affected by the figure skating scandal should not be punished for the misdeeds of others.

Rogge also said the IOC needs to know more information about the case.

"I think we should not penalize the athletes -- who deserve to compete -- because of the wrongdoing of some judges,'' Rogge told The Associated Press on Friday. "The athletes are not guilty. Some judges obviously are.''

When asked if the figure skating medals could be reviewed, Rogge said, "We want to have the full truth. We want to explore this.''

But IOC Vice President Thomas Bach suggested the results could be voided.

"At this moment, I am not ruling out anything, not even the annulment of the Olympic results,'' Bach said Friday.

"But I don't think much of quick shooting. A quick clarification is the most important now. It's about the credibility and its existence.''

When asked if the IOC could act before the criminal investigations were finished, Rogge said that "depends on the information that we receive.''

The Salt Lake City judging scandal, the biggest in Olympics history, resulted in a duplicate set of gold medals being awarded to the Canadian team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, which finished second to the Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

Rogge said he did not think the latest twist to the scandal would tarnish the Olympic movement.

"No, because everyone knew that the judgment was manipulated and the IOC acted on that by awarding a second gold medal to the Canadian pair,'' Rogge said.

"Today, we discover that allegedly more persons were behind that. But that does not add or change anything to the facts themselves.''

Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze won the gold medal by the smallest of margins in pairs figure skating, defeating Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said the next day she had been pressured to vote for the Russians. She later recanted but still was suspended, as was Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French skating federation.

''I don't know this man, I have no contact with him,'' Le Gougne told the AP, referring to Tokhtakhounov. ''This affair doesn't concern me.''

Gailhaguet on Friday denied having any contact ''before, during or after'' the Olympics with Tokhtakhounov.

A week after the pairs competition, France's Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won gold in the ice dancing. However, the Russian judge voted for the second-place Russians -- indicating the scheme wasn't carried out the way prosecutors believe it was planned.

Italian police said Tokhtakhounov had a phone conversation with a French man, identified on the tape as ''Chevalier,'' after the Russians won the gold in pairs.

''Everything will go well now because the French, with their vote, have made them champions,'' Chevalier said, according to the transcript. ''It happened, it happened. Even if the Canadians are 10 times better, the French with their vote have given them first place.''

Other transcripts detail a conversation between Tokhtakhounov and a female ice dancer's mother. After the Olympics, the female ice dancer called Tokhtakhounov and said she could have won without his help, according to the transcript. While Anissina was the ice dancer who won the gold, the papers didn't identify her as the woman on the phone.

Police say that during wiretaps in the Russian mafia investigation, they uncovered details of the alleged ice-skating fix.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.