Kremlin Won't Confirm if Putin is Meeting With IOC to Discuss Olympic Ban

The Kremlin has no information concerning bilateral consultations between Vladimir Putin and Thomas Bach ahead of the committee's meeting in Lausanne.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kremlin is unaware of allegedly planned consultations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach on the issue of banning entire Russian team from the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Russian presidential spokesman said Sunday.

On June 19, the German Spiegel magazine reported citing its sources that the IOC could suspend Russia’s entire National Olympic Committee (NOC) from the 2016 Rio Olympics in the wake of the doping scandal. The ban can be imposed at June 21’s summit in Lausanne. Bach was reportedly expected to hold consultations with Putin on that issue.

"We are unaware of the existence of such an issue," Peskov told RIA Novosti, answering a question on whether Putin was planning to conduct such talks.

On Friday, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) officially announced the decision to maintain the suspension of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF), which means that Russian athletes cannot participate in international competitions under the IAAF aegis. On Saturday, the IOC Executive Board said it supported the anti-doping stance of the IAAF.