RUSADA chief executive Yuri Ganus has claimed the body has "fulfilled all the necessary criteria" to regain compliance ©RUSADA

Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) chief executive Yuri Ganus has claimed the body has "fulfilled all the necessary criteria" to regain compliance with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

WADA's independent Compliance Review Committee is currently preparing for a key meeting in Montreal today and tomorrow.

A report on RUSADA's progress is among the main items on the agenda.

The Compliance Review Committee will then put a recommendation forward on whether RUSADA should be declared compliant at the WADA Foundation Board meeting due to take place in Seoul on November 16.

Ganus insists RUSADA, non-compliant since the publication of the Independent Commission report into alleged state-sponsored doping in athletics in November 2015, has done enough to be reinstated.

He claims they have met the conditions set out by WADA in their roadmap to recompliance, published in August.

Russia, however, continues to refuse to accept the findings of the McLaren Report, which produced evidence of an institutionalised doping scheme present at several major events, including the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Public acceptance of the evidence in the report is the first requirement of the 12 which has still not been fulfilled under the roadmap.

Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov has claimed, however, that they have "provided a detailed explanation" to WADA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

This does not amount to an acceptance, though, meaning the regulation in WADA's roadmap would still not have been met.

"In the roadmap it has been defined that we can provide a detailed explanation on this issue and that has been done," Kolobkov, an Olympic gold medallist in fencing, told R-Sport.

"We have provided WADA and the IOC with all necessary and even additional information, where we explain our view on this situation and our attitude to the information presented in the McLaren Report. 

"We have also specified what we are going to do further regarding this situation. 

"Our position is clear and understandable to all our foreign partners."

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov claimed they had given their explanation on the issue of the McLaren Report to the World Anti-Doping Agency, who are considering whether they should be reinstated ©Getty Images
Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov claimed they had given their explanation on the issue of the McLaren Report to the World Anti-Doping Agency, who are considering whether they should be reinstated ©Getty Images

WADA President Sir Craig Reedie had hinted last month that Russia would not be declared compliant again in Seoul. 

RUSADA had been given a boost in their recompliance effort after they had allowed the organisation to resume testing in June.

Being granted the permission to carry out testing was a major part of the roadmap.

It also includes ensuring there is an independent chairperson and installing a conflict of interest policy within the RUSADA Board.

That particular criteria was met when Yelena Isinbayeva, an outspoken critic of the McLaren Report, stepped down as chair of RUSADA on May 31.

The double Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder was replaced in the interim by Ernst and Young partner Alexander Ivlev, whose appointment was officially confirmed in May.

In an update presented to the WADA Foundation Board in May, deputy secretary general Rob Koehler confirmed these criteria had been accepted by RUSADA, while another of the regulations regarding access to athlete biological passport samples had already been put in place.

RUSADA has also now opened up the "closed cities" - often military bases - to doping control officers, another regulation set out by WADA.

WADA audited RUSADA last month.

The Russian body has since appointed an ethics officer, a foreign lawyer whose name will be made public once the contracts have been signed.

This was another step towards recompliance for RUSADA, one of the main barriers to be overcome to ensure Russia is allowed to compete at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.

A number of National Anti-Doping Organisations have called for Russia to be banned from the Games, which run from February 9 to 25.

"RUSADA has fulfilled all the criteria and requirements for restoration by today,"" Ganus told Russia's state news agency TASS.

"The final step was taken at a meeting of the supervisory board that took place at the end of last week.

"We elected the head of the Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee, candidacy of an officer in ethics."