Russia is widely expected to face punishment over allegations of state-sponsored doping, which it vehemently denies, when the IOC meets Tuesday to decide on the country’s participation in the upcoming Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
“We are hoping that sanity wins the day,” Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s vice premier and former sports minister, said ahead of the session in the Swiss city of Lausanne, where a press conference announcing the outcome is scheduled for 18:30 GMT.
Mutko also spoke out against imposing “collective responsibility” on innocent Russian athletes.
Various scenarios have been laid out by journalists familiar with the IOC process, which will conclude with a 14-strong IOC panel hearing the results of two separate investigations – one into violations at Russia’s home winter Olympics, and the other concerning the involvement of state officials in covering up and encouraging doping violations over a period of years.
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