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THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday that it will decide on December 5 if Russia can compete at the Pyeongchang Winter Games.
Russia faces being banned from the February 9-25 games in South Korea as punishment for state-backed doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
IOC President Thomas Bach has criticised sport officials who call for a total ban on Russia.
Some athletes may be allowed to compete if they have met stricter doping tests.
President Vladimir Putin has said it would be “degrading” for Russian athletes to take part in the Winter Games as a neutral team and be denied their national flag and anthem.
That happened in August at the athletics world championships, where some Russian athletes won medals despite the Russian athletics body being suspended as a result of the doping scandals.
Russian authorities deny that there was a state conspiracy to corrupt the Sochi Olympics.
They want whistle-blower Grigory Rodchenkov extradited from the US. Honorary Russian Olympics Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said yesterday that Rodchenkov “should be shot for lying, like Stalin would have done.”
