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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ruled to suspend the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and to bar the country’s national team from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the IOC press service announced on Tuesday, according to TASS agency.

"The IOC Executive Board today studied and discussed the findings of the Commission led by the former President of Switzerland, Samuel Schmid, addressing the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system in Russia," the statement from the IOC said.
"This report also addresses in particular the manipulation at the anti-doping laboratory at the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 which targeted the Olympic Games directly," according to the IOC.

The committee ruled that "clean" Russian athletes will be allowed to take part in the upcoming Olympic Games under a neutral flag. Individual athletes can still receive a permission to take part as neutral athletes and compete under the Olympic flag if they have no previous penalties or disqualifications for doping and pass all pre-Games targeted doping tests.

The agency reminds that the upcoming Olympics, which are the 23rd Winter Games, will take place in South Korea’s PyeongChang on February 9-25, 2018.

In July 2016, the IOC set up two separate commissions to probe doping abuse allegations in Russian sports as well as the alleged involvement of state officials in manipulations with performance enhancing drugs, particularly at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia’s Sochi.