A 70-year-old Swiss man severely injured in a car crash with a Russian who was driving at high speed under the influence of alcohol is expected to be questioned by police soon.

The pensioner received serious head injuries and was taken to hospital in coma late on Thursday after his Volkswagen Golf was hit by a Lamborghini driven by a 22-year-old Russian.

Tribune de Geneve said on Tuesday the patient has been transferred from intensive care. Swiss media have accused authorities of trying to cover up the involvement of several rich young Russians in the scandal.

The Russian, whose name has not been disclosed, was reportedly racing at over 220 km an hour (about 150 miles an hour) on a highway by Lake Geneva along with three countrymen, who had rented a Bugatti, a Mercedes and a Porsche.

Police have denied allegations of giving favorable treatment to the Russians, believed to have wealthy and influential parents. "There are no political or economic reasons to treat this case as special," Le Matin paper said citing a police official.

He said more evidence needs to be provided and a link between the suspects established before bringing charges against them. "We must be guided by facts, not speculation," the paper quoted the official as saying.

The Russian daily Kommersant cited a Swiss police source as saying that two of the Russians were sons of the tycoon Telman Ismailov, who opened an ultra luxury hotel on Turkey's Mediterranean this summer.

The Lamborghini driver is the son of a high-ranking Russian official. He studies in Geneva, the paper said. He also sustained injuries and was taken to hospital, but was later discharged.

He faces up to one year in prison, and will have to pay a large fine. The young man denied taking part in a street race, saying he sped up after his companions pulled forward before the traffic lights changed.

Kommersant said the Ismailovs helped the Lamborghini driver to get out of the car after the crash and fled the scene without waiting for police to arrive.

The two have been questioned and released and are believed to have left Switzerland for Turkey. People in Ismailov's entourage have declined to comment on the incident, the paper said.

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)