Russia must compete under flag at sports events, says Putin

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday insisted Russia's athletes should be allowed to compete under the Russian flag, despite a four-year ban handed down by the World Anti-Doping Agency from major sporting events over systematic violations.

"If WADA does not have any issues with our national Olympic committee our team must compete under its flag," Putin said during an annual end-of-year news conference, insisting that most of Russia's athletes were clean.

"Any punishment should be individual," he added.

"If a majority of our athletes are clean how is it possible to slap sanctions against them for someone else's actions?"

He reiterated his opinion that the WADA ban was politically motivated.

"The WADA decision contradicts the Olympic Charter," Putin added.

WADA this month banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, over manipulated doping data.

Russia's anti-doping agency was set on Thursday to decide whether to launch an appeal against the WADA ban.

This formal disagreement with WADA would trigger the process of appeal against the ban at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Meanwhile, Russia's anti-doping agency will on Thursday decide whether to launch an appeal against a four-year ban from major sporting events over systematic violations, a prohibition denounced by the country's leadership as politically motivated.

The supervisory board of RUSADA will hold a meeting and is widely expected to announce its formal rejection of the December 9 decision by WADA to ban Russia for non-compliance.

This formal disagreement with WADA would trigger the process of appeal against the ban at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

RUSADA supervisory board chairman Alexander Ivlev is due to announce the decision at 1000 GMT.