Mutko said he believes "athletes have nothing to do with it" amid a defiant response to claims from some competitors that they will not compete unless the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) event is stripped from the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games host city.

He claimed he was not concerned by the boycott threats, which began with Britain's Olympic skeleton champion Lizzy Yarnold and continued with members of US Bobsled and Skeleton’s Athlete Advisory Committee voting unanimously in favour of withdrawing, as "they have survived boycotts before".

The current members of the Committee are Matt Antoine, Veronica Day, Elana Meyers Taylor, Nic Taylor and Kyle Tress.

Mutko was seemingly making reference to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Moscow, which were boycotted by the United States in protest at the invasion of Afghanistan by the now defunct Soviet Union.

"Forget about it, take it calm," Mutko, the former Sports Minister, told R-Sport.

"Let them go for it.

"I am absolutely sure that guys, athletes have nothing to do with it.

"Athletes are people of one blood, they move together from one competition stage to another, they know each other.

"And they are aware of everything that is going on around them - I am sure of it.

"Somebody pushes them to that. 

"If they don’t come, what can we do?

"We survived boycotts before; they will lose a lot.

"These endless attempts to discredit Russia through sport will continue; of course, it achieves its objective."

Yarnold had called for the IBSF to move the 2017 World Championships, scheduled to take place from February 13 to 26, in October and refused to rule out a potential boycott.

Her comments came in the wake of allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia, outlined in the McLaren Report in July.

Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren is due to release the second part of his findings in London on Friday (December 9).

Russian Bobsleigh Federation (RBF) President Alexander Zubkov, who was one of the athletes reportedly implicated in the doping scheme in operation at Sochi 2014 and other major events, dismissed suggestions the event should be moved last month.

The two-time Olympic champion, part of the victorious two and four-man crews on home ice at Sochi 2014, admitted the athletes had the right to an opinion but waved off claims that the World Championships could be moved.

It appears unlikely the IBSF will take the stance the athletes have urged them to after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) backtracked on recommendations they initially made after the McLaren Report was published.

They told Winter International Federations to "freeze preparations" for major events in Russia and asked them to "actively seek alternative organisers" before claiming this only applied to future bid processes and not current candidacies from Russia or competitions which had already been awarded.

The IBSF chose Sochi as the host of the 2017 World Championships in June 2013.

In response to the boycott claims, the IBSF told insidethegames no statement would be given until the second part of the McLaren Report had been published.