MOSCOW, May 21 (RAPSI) – The Moscow prosecutor’s office will not to pursue a criminal investigation against a television commentator who figure skating star Evgeny Plushenko claims slandered him earlier this year, a law enforcement source told RAPSI on Tuesday.

“The prosecutor’s office again quashed the decision not to institute criminal proceedings,” the source said.  The prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, according to the RAPSI.

Plushenko had attempted private prosecution after Russian police rejected a second slander complaint last month in the wake of Eurosport broadcaster Andrei Zhurankov's comments during the European Championships last January that the figure skating star faked back surgery in Israel after pulling out of the competition.

Plushenko withdrew from the championships in Zagreb because of injury after finishing six in the short program. His coach Alexei Mishin said the Olympic champion had a back disc replacement at an Israeli clinic.

Following unsourced reports in Israeli media that Plushenko lied about having surgery, Zhurankov said on the Russian television the figure skater’s alleged fakery was for public relations purposes.

“In my opinion, there was no such operation, and all this story, considering how it was presented in the mass media … all this looks like a strategy that is used for various PR actions in showbiz,” Zhurankov said.

Plushenko’s lawyer Tatyana Akimtseva told RAPSI her client intends to sue Zhurankov for defamation in the broadcaster’s home district of Nikulinsky, in Moscow.

Defamation has been a criminal offence in Russia since July, after President Vladimir Putin reversed its decriminalization in December, 2012, by then-President Dmitry Medvedev.

The offence carries a maximum fine of $165,000.