Russia's Olympic Committee has agreed to support its athletes who choose to compete in next year's Winter Games in South Korea as neutrals following a ban on the national team.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week banned Russia from the Games, due to take place in Pyeongchang in February, for what it called "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system.
But it left the door open for Russian athletes with a clean history of non-doping to be invited to compete as neutrals under an Olympic flag.
President Vladimir Putin said last week Russia would not prevent its athletes from competing and the Russian committee (ROC) agreed its position at a meeting on Tuesday.
"All the participants were of the same opinion - our sportsmen need to go to Korea, need to compete, achieve victory for the glory of Russia, for the glory of our motherland," ROC president Alexander Zhukov said.
Zhukov said Russia would do its best to support Russian athletes competing under a neutral flag and hold serious talks with the IOC in the near future to discuss the problems and practicalities of the arrangement.
He did not say what form this support would take.
"Russian sportsmen have stated their readiness to take part in the Olympic Games, despite the difficult conditions and decision of the IOC, which is undoubtedly unfair in many ways," he said.
Zhukov added that Russia would also support the athletes who had decided not to compete in Pyeongchang.
Senior Russian Olympic official Vitaly Smirnov, who heads Russia's state-backed anti-doping commission, said the country had made the "right decision" not to boycott.
"A boycott is not a solution," Smirnov said. "That (would mean) new sanctions and problems for our athletes."
Meanwhile, the IOC said on Tuesday it had banned six Russian female ice hockey players for life from the Olympics over doping allegations linked to Sochi 2014.
"More hearings concerning other athletes will be held over the next few weeks," the IOC said in a statement posted on its website.
