With top Olympics officials expected imminently to announce a punishment for Russia over its elaborate sports doping scheme, the whistle-blower who played a central role in the illicit program said he was in favor of allowing Russian athletes who can establish their innocence to compete under a neutral flag at the coming Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

“Innocent athletes should not be prevented from participating,” Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, Russia’s former longtime antidoping laboratory chief, said in an email exchange on Friday and Saturday with The New York Times through his lawyer — his first interview since being put under protection of United States authorities.

International Olympic Committee officials will announce Tuesday how they will handle the matter of Russia’s eligibility at the Winter Games in February. An extreme option would be barring every member of the Russian delegation from participating, regardless of whether they are linked to doping. Dr. Rodchenkov said he supported one of the options that the officials are considering: allowing clean Russian athletes to compete but keeping all Russian emblems out of the Games.

In recent weeks, Dr. Rodchenkov’s detailed account about widespread breaches of drug-testing controls at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia — as well as his contemporaneous notes from that time and digital evidence related to his lab work — have been shared with Olympic officials.