Russia ready to create new anti-doping agency: Sports Minister

Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that they are ready to create a new anti-doping organisation.

New Delhi: Embattled Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko on Friday said that they are "ready to either reform or create a new anti-doping organisation", according to reports.

In a bid to address the concerns about its maligned athletics programme following claims of systematic doping in the country, Russia have taken unprecedented steps including the scrapping of anti-doping laboratory.

"We are ready ... to either reform or create a new anti-doping organisation, we are ready for wide cooperation," Mutko told R-Sport.

Yesterday, the sports minister was also widely reported to have said the country will not boycott the 2016 Rio de Janerio Olympics even if the track and field team is banned.

Mutko said that Russia is "a dependable partner of the international Olympic movement” and the country has no intention of boycotting the Olympics.

"Russia is against a boycott. Russia is against political interference in sport. Understand that Russia is a dependable partner of the international Olympic movement," Mutko told AP.

R-Sport also quoted Mutko as saying, he would speak to Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), later on Friday.

The International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) is expected to rule later today on whether to suspend Russia from competition because of the doping scandal. If Russia is banned, the country's track and field team could be excluded from next year's Olympics in Brazil.