MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia may create a new anti-doping agency to address concerns about its athletics programme, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko was quoted as saying by the news agency R-Sport on Friday.

Mutko was also quoted as saying he would speak to Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), later on Friday.

“We are ready … to either reform or create a new anti-doping organisation, we are ready for wide cooperation,” Mutko told R-Sport.

The agency also quoted Mutko as saying his ministry, the Russian Olympic Committee, and the country’s Athletic Federation, had already held talks with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the IOC about the doping scandal.

(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)