No Russian Olympic boycott: Putin

Putin on Wednesday said Russia would not prevent athletes from competing at the 2018 Winter Games under the Olympic flag, after the IOC banned the country over a doping scandal.

"We will certainly not declare any boycott, we will not prevent our Olympians from competing, if they want to take part in a personal capacity," news agencies quoted him as saying during a speech at an automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod, where he also announced he would run for a fourth presidential term next year.