The Olympic Assembly of the Russian Olympic Committee decided to participate in the neutral status of Russian athletes in the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea.

The meeting supported the statement of the OCD athletes' commission on the support of Russian athletes who expressed their readiness to take part in the Games. This was announced by the President of the ROC Alexander Zhukov, reports BBC.

Honored trainer Tatyana Tarasova said that there was virtually no discussion about admission: "We do not have the State Duma".

The Commission of Athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee has the day before expressed its support for participating in the Olympic Games in a neutral status.

"We want to speak for our homeland, for our relatives and friends, for our dedicated fans, for our nation, which for many centuries has been and remains one of the greatest in the world. Every victory, every medal we will devote to Russia, which we will be proud to represent, "- said in a statement published after the meeting of the commission.

The statement was signed by fencer Sofya Velikaya, figure skater Fedor Klimov, gymnast Aliya Mustafina, tennis player Anastasia Myskina and others.

Even earlier, representatives of several sports federations stated about the intention to take part in the games, in particular, the head of the federation of ski races Elena Vyalbe.

"The athletes themselves conducted an internal vote and decided that our ski team is going to the Olympic Games," said Vialbe. Voting with a similar result was conducted by Russian lugeurs.

To take part in the Games, the athletes also recommended the federations of the bobsleigh and sketelon, as well as the skiing and snowboarding in Russia.

Statements about the desire to participate in the Games in Korea, from which the International Olympic Committee removed Russia, began to sound more often after the Kremlin made it clear: it is not against the participation of athletes under the neutral flag.

Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the suspension of the national team from the Olympics on December 6. This happened in Nizhny Novgorod immediately after Putin announced his intention to run for the fourth term.

Before that, a number of Russian officials called for boycotting and not going to the Games.

"We, without any doubt, will not declare any blockade, we will not prevent our Olympians from taking part [in the Olympics], if one of them wants to take part in a personal capacity," the Russian president said..

On December 5, the IOC dismissed the Russian national team from participating in the 2018 Games in South Korea because of a doping scandal. Athletes who were not noticed in the use of doping, were allowed to act under a neutral flag. All Russian sports officials are denied accreditation for the Olympics, and the vice-premier and former sports minister Vitaly Mutko - for life.

The decision of the IOC was based on the findings of the commission of Denis Oswald, who spoke about the existence in Russia of a state system of doping with the participation of the FSB and officials of the Ministry of Sport. The informer was the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory Grigory Rodchenkov, who fled to the US.

Russia was also deprived of 11 medals received at the Sochi 2014 Olympics, as a result of which the country dropped from the first to the third place in the medal standings.