Russia pledges to cooperate

Russia on Tuesday pledged to cooperate with anti-doping and international athletics authorities after a damning report into allegations of doping and corruption in athletics in the country.

A bombshell report from an independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released Monday said Russia's athletics federation should be suspended from all competitions.

It outlined evidence of systematic cheating with the consent of the government in Moscow, noting that drug tests for athletes were conducted at a Russian laboratory that totally lacked credibility.

"The commission has done a lot of work and its recommendations will help Russia in further improving its anti-doping systems," Russia's sports ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

"The sports ministry will carefully study the conclusions and the facts that they were based on and see how to take appropriate steps," it said.

The WADA panel's findings called for athletics' governing body (IAAF) to suspend Russia's athletics body (ARAF) and declare it "non-compliant" with globally agreed doping regulations.

IAAF President Sebastian Coe said he would give Russia   until Friday to respond to the scathing report.