The laboratory will now be listed as a legal entity authorised to import and export narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

It will also be used for research and education purposes, according to the explanation of the law.

The law, it is claimed, will allow the national anti-doping laboratory to carry out activities aimed at observing doping rules.

Work at the laboratory was launched in March of this year as part of a plan to repair the country's anti-doping effort following the doping scandal that eventually led to the International Olympic Committee ruling Russia would participate as neutrals at Pyeongchang 2018.

Last month, Viktor Sadovnichy, the rector of the university, told Russia's state news agency TASS that he was hopeful the facility would be operational in May.

Sadovnichy added that they would be purchasing equipment for the laboratory in January and February and were in continued discussions with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

He said a foreign specialist could be employed to run the facility.

WADA revoked the accreditation of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory following revelations of a state-directed doping scheme in the country.

The facility was then partially reaccredited to carry out blood analysis.

The Moscow laboratory remains closed off and WADA have said they will only cooperate with a Russian investigation into the drugs scandal if they are given access.

It came after WADA obtained an electronic database from a whisteblower of all testing data at the Moscow laboratory between January 2012 and August 2015.

The information includes details of thousands of drugs tests, providing new evidence which appears to confirm many of the allegations made by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in his WADA-commissioned reports published in July and December 2016.

WADA now want access to the laboratory, so they can match the samples to the database.

A bill was also signed by Putin to allow for the dismissal of coaches who commit doping violations.

According to TASS, coaches can be sacked should an anti-doping body establish they were in possession of a prohibited substance, as well as circulating and trying to tamper with elements of doping controls.

They may be temporarily suspended should they be found to have “assisted, encouraged, concealed, entered a conspiracy or was otherwise engaged in any violation of anti-doping rules”.

The International Olympic Committee’s Schmid Report, which investigated Russian doping at Sochi 2014, discovered a "systemic manipulation" of anti-doping results.

The manipulation was achieved by illegal tampering of urine samples at events, including Sochi 2014.