An update on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency's (RUSADA) reinstatement efforts is high on the agenda at tomorrow's gathering of the 38-member ruling body.

"I expect people to take the issues extremely seriously because much work has been done, both in Russia and in WADA to help improve the situation and tomorrow we will see what the board decides to do," said Sir Craig here.

It follows optimism expressed by Pavel Kolobkov, who replaced Vitaly Mutko as Russian Sports Minister last year after his promotion to Deputy Prime Minister.

The Olympic fencing gold medallist claimed in March that the aim of RUSADA is to regain provisional compliance with WADA by May.

He hopes they will be fully re-instated by November, approximately three months before Pyeongchang 2018 is due to take place from February 9 to 25.

The comments from Sir Craig, re-elected WADA President at the last Foundation Board meeting in Glasgow in November, come despite issues being raised concerning RUSADA's attempt at regaining compliance.

In December of last year, Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren produced evidence that more than 1,000 Russian athletes were allegedly implicated in a scheme where samples were tampered with and manipulated at events including the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi.

The findings in the document, which sent shockwaves through the sporting world when it was published, led to calls for Russia to be banned entirely from next year's Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.

RUSADA's path to recompliance was also discussed when Sir Craig met with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach during last month's SportAccord Convention in Aarhus.

Sir Craig also had a meeting with a delegation from Russia, led by Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov and which also included Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov and honorary IOC member Vitaly Smirnov at the event in the Danish city.

The issue dominated the last Foundation Board meeting where Robert Koehler, deputy director general, admitted they were still facing obstacles in Russia.

This included "limited access to closed cities", as well as other challenges.

Smirnov, appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin to lead a Commission set up to look into the allegations against the country, dismissed any suggestion there was a state-sponsored doping system in the nation at the meeting in Glasgow.

RUSADA has been non-compliant since November 2015, when explosive reports of state-supported doping within Russia’s athletics programme were revealed.

Sir Craig also detailed some of the items discussed at today's Executive Committee meeting, which included the Independent Testing Authority and laboratory accreditation.

Members of the 12-strong Executive Committee, WADA's policy-making body, also had a "long discussion" on proposed reforms of the organisation's governance.