CISM chief executive Olivier Verhelle revealed that they have not considered stripping the event from Russia because they are a "non-political" organisation and do not want to send a "misguided signal".

All anti-doping testing and analysis is due to be outsourced to an unnamed company in Denmark, it is claimed.

insidethegames understands this will be Copenhagen-based "leading test provider" Clearidium, although this has not been officially confirmed.

Russia has already lost events in bobsleigh, biathlon, cross-country skiing and ice skating following publication of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-commissioned investigation which found that up to 1,000 athletes were implicated in the widespread manipulation of samples submitted between 2011 and 2015.

The International Olympic Committee have now opened disciplinary proceedings against 28 athletes from Russia whose urine samples at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi 2014 allegedly contained evidence of being tampered with.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied there was a "state-sponsored" doping scheme in place.

Yury Nagornykh, the former Deputy Sports Minister named by McLaren as a mastermind of the programme, was dismissed from his position in October due to his involvement following a decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Action at the CISM World Winter Games, due to take place between February 23 and 27, is due to take place in many of the same venues for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

"The event is still taking place as planned," Verhelle told insidethegames today.

"We clearly want to show how we are a non-political organisation and do not want to make a misguided signal.

"We have outsourced all anti-doping provisions to a company in Denmark, and are fully confident that it will be successful."

The Belgian official added that they had been impressed with preparations during an inspection visit to the Black Sea resort last month.

The full list of Russians set to compete at the event has not yet been announced.

But, according to the event's Twitter page, those competing are set to include Ilia Chernousov, a Sochi 2014 50 kilometres cross-country skiing bronze medalist.

He was not among six Russian cross-country skiers suspended by the International Ski Federation late last month for possible involvement in the sample manipulation scheme.

But there does not appear any CISM procedure to prevent the participation of Russians who are implicated in the McLaren Report, but have not yet been found guilty of any wrongdoing.

Competitions are scheduled to be held in seven sports or disciplines of ski mountaineering, sport climbing, cross-country skiing, Alpine skiing, biathlon, short track speed skating and ski orienteering.

CISM claims to "unite 135 countries" and be the "major sport organisation after the IOC and the International University Sports Federation".

The first Winter Games were held in Aosta in Italy in 2010 before a second three years later in the French resort of Annecy, where 1,000 athletes from 40 countries participated.

The 22 currently confirmed as appearing in Sochi are: Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea and Sweden.

Winter sport heavyweights like Canada, Norway and United States are among the absentees, despite all being CISM members.

A specific reason has not been given by the CISM for their absence.

It is hoped that "maybe two or three" additional countries will also feature.

High-profile athletes competing in Annecy included France's two-time Olympic biathlon champion and non-commissioned officer Martin Fourcade and Italy's 2015 world short track champion Arianna Fontana.

German cross-country skier Evi Sachenbaher-Stehle, a two-time Olympic champion from Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010, also took part.

She was disqualified at Sochi 2014 after failing a drugs test for banned stimulant methylhexanamine.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu is head of the Organising Committee.

The Opening Ceremony is due to be held on February 23 in order to coincide with the "Defender of the Fatherland Day" holiday in Russia.