NOVEMBER 2015

An independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) found a "deeply rooted culture of cheating" in Russian athletics, which it said the state security services colluded with. It recommended that Russia be banned from international athletics.

Days after the publication of the report, the sport's governing body, the IAAF, banned Russia's athletics federation (Rusaf) while Wada declared the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) non-compliant.

MAY 2016

The New York Times reported that dozens of Russian athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, including at least 15 medal winners, were part of a state-run doping programme.

The report was based on evidence from whistle-blower Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of the country's anti-doping laboratory during the Games.

JULY 2016

An independent commission set up to investigate the allegations in the Times report, revealed evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping by athletes at the Sochi Games. It said that the Russian Ministry of Sport oversaw the manipulation of athletes' analytical results and sample swopping and recommended that Russia be banned from the Rio Olympics the following month.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would allow each sporting federation to make its own decision. Russia remained banned from athletics but competed in most other sports and won 19 gold medals.

AUGUST 2017

Russia remained barred from athletics but 19 of its athletes were allowed to compete at the world championships in London as neutrals after being vetted by the IAAF.

DECEMBER 2017

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee and banned the country from the Pyeongchang Winter Games the following February but said it would allow Russian athletes to compete as neutrals "as long as they satisfy strict conditions that show they have a doping-free background".

FEBRUARY 2018

Some 168 Russians competed as part of a neutral "Olympic Athlete from Russia" team but two failed drug tests - medal-winning curler Alexander Krushelnitsky and bobsleigher Nadezhda Sergeeva.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) later accepted Sergeeva's appeal that the failed test "likely resulted from a contaminated product".

Russia was reinstated by the IOC after the remaining tests of its athletes at the Pyeongchang Games returned negative.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Wada's executive committee voted to reinstate Rusada before it had fulfilled the requirements laid out in a "Roadmap to Compliance", which included giving access to data stored at Moscow's anti-doping laboratory.

JANUARY 2019

Wada extracted doping data from the discredited Moscow laboratory, including more than 2,000 samples, three weeks after the deadline it had set Russia.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Wada said historical data supplied by the country's anti-doping authority contained "inconsistencies" and that Rusada faced another suspension. The IAAF, now World Athletics (WA), maintained its ban on Russia, which was excluded from the world championships.

NOVEMBER 2019

A Wada compliance committee recommended that Russia receive a four-year Olympic ban as part of a sanctions package to punish Moscow for providing the agency with doctored and incomplete laboratory data. Then Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov attributed discrepancies in the data to technical issues.

DECEMBER 2019

Wada suspends Russia from all major sporting events for four years.

JANUARY 2020

Wada suspended the Moscow laboratory from carrying out blood sample analysis after an investigation found data from the facility had been manipulated.

MARCH 2020

WA allows no more than 10 Russian track and field athletes to compete as neutrals at the postponed Tokyo Olympics. It handed out a US$10 million (S$13.25 million) fine, which the federation failed to pay until it was threatened with expulsion from the world body.

REUTERS