It has been reported that national bobsleigh and skeleton coaches have not received their salaries for six-months.

The problems began on January 21 when the Central Bank of Russia revoked a licence from Vneshprombank, at that time the country's 40th biggest asset-lender.

It had been placed under temporary administration the previous month due to concerns about its liquidity and asset quality, as well as a violation of minimum capital requirements.

Money to be paid out by the ROC to foreign coaches and specialists working in Russian sports had been kept in the bank.

Bobsleigh and skeleton teams were hit particularly hard, with official Government news agency TASS reporting that coaching staff have been unpaid for half-a-year.

Russian Federation of Bobsleigh (RFB) President Georgy Bedzhamov was a shareholder of Vneshprombank, while his sister Larisa Markus, the President and co-owner, was arrested on December 22 on fraud charges.

Zhukov, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who attended the Winter Youth Olympic Games here earlier this week before returning home to Moscow, has promised the Government will ensure all officials are fully repaid.

"The financing on behalf of the ROC within the frames of support programme on preparations of the Russian team for the Games in Rio de Janeiro will continue in full volume," he said.

"The stance of the ROC in regard to financing of foreign coaches, who work during the winter season, is unchanged and all our assumed obligations will be fulfilled.

"If problems emerge, we will deal with them.

"All of these issues are under active consideration in the ROC, the Sports Ministry and Sports Federations."

The ROC added in a statement sent to insidethegames today: “All the [financial] obligations, undertaken by the ROC are being carried out and will continue to be carried out in future."

It appears possible, however, that the future role of some of these coaches could now be reassessed.

"Speaking about winter sports, it is first of all necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of each invited foreign coach’s work and determine the feasibility of future cooperation in each particular case considering preparations for the [2018] Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang," Zhukov said.

Russia claimed two gold medals in bobsleigh and another in skeleton at Sochi 2014, but have been slightly less successful in recent seasons.

They claimed only a silver and a bronze medal at last year's World Championships in Winterberg.

Alexander Tretiakov, the Olympic gold medallist at Sochi 2014, won a silver medal in this year's Championships, held today in Innsbruck. 

Bedzhamov, a millionaire businessman who also owns the Russian Glass Company, was elected RFB President in September 2010 and elected vice-president of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation in May 2014.

He has reportedly now left Russia for Monaco and is seeking asylum in Europe.

Other clients of Vneshprombank reportedly included the Russian Orthodox Church and the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, a key official responsible for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.