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Mutko labeled
allegations by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of a
widespread and state-backed drug culture in Russian athletics as
"absurd", Interfax reported.
He also said the International and Russian Olympic Committees
would make a joint statement on the scandal later on Friday.
Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov, who is
also an IOC member, arrived this week in Lausanne and met with
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in a
hastily-arranged meeting in a bid to contain the fallout from
the scandal, a source within the Olympic movement said.
Zhukov was a chief organizer of the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics
and a crucial link between the Russian government and the IOC
throughout the preparation for those Games.
The source said there were "conciliatory and constructive
noises" from the Russian side following the revelations from the
WADA independent commission report.
Vladimir Putin earlier this week said he wanted Russia to
conduct an internal investigation into the accusations and that
someone needed to take personal responsibility for the problem.
Mutko did not rule out that Russia could take measures to
address the allegations ahead of a meeting of the council of the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Earlier on Friday, he said that Russia was ready to reform its
anti-doping agency or create a new one.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova and Karolos Grohmann; Editing by
Andrew Osborn and Jack Stubbs)
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