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Russia Pays $15M Doping Fine to Olympic Committee To Lift Suspension

Jonathan Drake / Bloomberg News

Russia has reportedly paid a fine of $15 million to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) levied when it was suspended for doping in December.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) imposed a blanket ban on the Russian national team over doping allegations in December 2016. although some 168 clean Russian athletes were allowed to compete at the Winter Games in South Korea in February 2018.

The IOC will take the settlement of the fine into account on Saturday Feb. 24 to decide whether or not to lift its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Agence France Press reported on Wednesday.

The “behavior of Russian athletes” in Pyeongchang, including the case of Alexander Krushelnitsky, a Russian curler who tested positive for meldonium after winning a bronze medal, will also be considered in the decision, the agency reported.

"That case [of Krushelnitsky], will have weight in the decision of the executive committee [of the IOC] but the curlers' story looks plausible," the news agency cited a source close to the case as saying.

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