Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva pleads against Russian Federation ban for Rio 2016

Russian’s president Vladimir Putin has also been diplomatic, saying: “It is necessary to conduct our own internal investigation and to provide the open – I stress – the most open and professional cooperation with the worldwide anti-doping agencies”.

Russia, accused of state-sponsored doping in athletics, is ready to do whatever it takes to avoid being suspended from competition, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said Friday.

The worldwide Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) is expected to rule Friday on whether to suspend Russia from competition because of the doping scandal.

Russian Federation hopes to prevent its athletes being banned from next year’s Olympics by claiming “irregularities” around its drug-testing system were down to the sport’s “old leadership”.

“This has been a shameful wake-up call, and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated”, IAAF President Sebastian Coe said.

“It makes me angry, ” added Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion from Britain.

“The IAAF has an obligation to protect athletes, and this action sends a clear message to clean athletes that protecting them and protecting the sport, with a culture of accountability, is our top priority”, Hightower said.

The global federation stated that its penalty will stand until Russia meets a list of criteria. An inspection team led by independent chair Rune Andersen, a Norwegian anti-doping expert, is to be appointed in the next few days. However, because the suspension is only provisional and the Russians will appeal the ruling, it’s still possible that Russian athletes will compete in Rio next summer.

“If we need to change everyone there – we will do it. But to wipe Russian athletics off the map?”

Mutko unveiled concessions he said would be on the table, including sacking the leaders of the national athletics body, creating a new Russian anti-doping agency, and possibly bringing criminal charges against people involved in doping. Many remained upbeat about their chances of competing in the Olympics while questioning why other countries were not being investigated alongside Russian Federation.

However, one effect of the suspension is that Russian Federation will lose its hosting rights to both the 2016 World Race Walking Cup, which was scheduled to take place in Cheboksary, and the 2016 World Junior Championships in Kazan.

Among the myriad allegations in the report, investigators said athletes were often given notice of out-of-competition tests, used false identities and frequently bribed doping control officers to get around other tests.

People stand at Olympic rings installed at a pier of the port of the Black Sea resort of Sochi at su …

The suspension was approved by a 22-1 vote during a teleconference of the 27-member council of the IAAF.

Coe has said “rogue elements” may have infiltrated the IAAF but has stressed that he was not aware of any of the allegations made against Diack, 82, who stepped down as president in August, until they “first surfaced at the start of the week”.