The IOC's decision was announced earlier this month after its Schmid Commission, chaired by former Swiss Confederation President Samuel Schmid, confirmed a "systemic manipulation" of anti-doping results at events including the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Athletes from the country deemed eligible to participate by a specially convened panel will instead be able to participate under an Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) banner.

Saitiev, a three-time Olympic wrestling gold medallist in the men's 74 kilograms freestyle category, believes the move has damaged the Olympic Movement.

"Over the last years, the IOC has made a lot of mistakes which have seriously affected the Olympic Movement," he told RT.

"I do regret that the IOC has become politicised, although, it is a non-political and Non-Governmental organisation.

"It should unite people who love sport, and develop sport.

"It is a huge disadvantage if a country misses the Olympics, but an absence of the Russian team will damage the Olympics in terms of records-setting, events attendance and TV ratings.

"I think the IOC realises that Russia's non-participation in the Games will inflict a blow to the Olympic Movement in general."

There had been talk in Russia of a boycott of Pyeongchang 2018 and some media outlets, including state-television company VGTRK, have claimed they will not be broadcasting from the Games. 

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) voted unanimously, however, to agree to let the country's athletes compete under a neutral flag.

The decision to take part in Pyeongchang 2018 was taken at the ROC Olympic Assembly in Moscow, despite the anger felt in Russia at the IOC's decision.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised that, even after the IOC announcement that athletes must compete under the OAR banner and the Olympic anthem would be played if they won a gold medal, he would not prevent them from competing at Pyeongchang 2018.

"President Putin outlined that it's a matter of the athlete's individual choice, whether to perform in South Korea or not," Saitiev told RT.

"Following the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics, the IOC implemented a rule [by] which a boycotting side halts its cooperation with the IOC for 10 years, meaning that the country will have to skip two more Olympic cycles.

"If we are excluded from the Olympic Movement for 10 years, we will destroy many sports [in Russia].

"There are 'non-profitable' sports, including my sport, freestyle wrestling, that exist only because they are part of the Olympic Games.

"[It is] only after successful performances at the Olympics that athletes representing those sports can gain some financial rewards, receive prizes and receive some benefits.

"That's why the Olympic Games are very important for [amateur] sports.

"I think all those actions and decisions [against Russia] were made in an attempt to induce Russia to boycott the Games."

The Schmid Commission ruled that the Sports Ministry was responsible for the doping scandal and the ROC, while not directly involved, had "legal and contractual" responsibility.

In other sanctions, the ROC and its President Alexander Zhukov were both suspended.

The ROC was also fined $15 million (£11.3 million/€12.8 million) to "reimburse the costs incurred by the IOC on the investigations and to contribute to the establishment of the Independent Testing Authority to build the capacity and integrity of the global anti-doping system".

Additionally, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and former Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has been excluded from participating in "all future Olympic Games" while no official from the Russian Ministry of Sports will be accredited for Pyeongchang 2018.

"All sides involved in a conflict can partly share the blame," Saitiev told RT.

"I cannot figure out the exact extent of the Russian side's guilt, but I would agree that Russian officials didn't apply maximum efforts to solve the issue.

"However, I want to emphasise that the Russian Sports Ministry and the Russian Olympic Committee are working hard to improve the situation.

"I want to believe that the situation will be turned into an advantage for our country and for our athletes.

"Thinking objectively, I can agree that part of the guilt lies on the Russian side."