One of Russia's top sports officials acknowledged for the first time to once having had a doping programme for its Olympic athletes.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said he accepts the findings of an investigation by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which was led by former Swiss president Samuel Schmid and released its results late last year.

Schmid's probe concluded that Russian authorities were involved in a systematic doping scheme for years, including during the 2014 Sochi Games. It led to Russian athletes being banned from competing under their country's flag in the PyeongChang Winter Games.

Schmid had said the doping system had done "unprecedented damage" to the Olympics.

Kolobkov said Russia has sent a letter to the executive board of the World Anti- Doping Agency (Wada) in which the government concurs with Schmid's work.

"We have stated in our letter that we do accept the decision of the International Olympic Committee, that we stand for cooperation with international organisations and are ready for a dialogue," Kolobkov said.

Wada said that a committee would discuss the letter at a meeting on June 14 before making recommendations to Wada's executive board. Russia hopes to have its suspended state anti-doping agency Rusada reinstated.

Rusada was suspended by Wada in November 2015 for helping cover up doping cases. Wada has said that it wants Russia to acknowledge the doping scheme before it will lift the suspension.