<p class="bodytext">Russia's doping "culture" will take years to change, regardless of the nation's ban from the Winter Olympics, whistle-blower Vitaly Stepanov said on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russia from the Pyeongchang Games on Tuesday after it found evidence of an "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Stepanov, a former employee of the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, helped expose massive doping problems in Russia in 2014 with his athlete wife Yulia Stepanova.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He welcomed the IOC decision as "fair" but expressed doubt that it would do much to change Russia's mindset in the short term.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think we are still many years away from the time when the doping culture truly changes in Russia," he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There are many sports officials running sports in Russia in the old way. Many coaches that are still doing the same... doping athletes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Many athletes who believe everybody is doping and the only way to win is to dope as well. Those are the things that have to change and it takes a long time."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Stepanov and his wife's evidence triggered a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation that alleged the Russian government was complicit in an elaborate scheme of institutional doping.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Moscow has consistently denied state involvement and the couple, who live in the United States at an undisclosed location, have been denounced as traitors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">WADA has demanded Moscow own up to state-sponsored doping as a condition of lifting its suspension of RUSADA.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If the Russian president agrees to the terms by the IOC, and they do not boycott the Games, then that would mean they admit the guilt, admit the state-run doping system.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Even if they say something different, I think to the rest of the world it would be clear that they did it. Not that it is not clear now," added Stepanov.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to admit your own guilt before starting to change."</p>
<p class="bodytext">Russia's doping "culture" will take years to change, regardless of the nation's ban from the Winter Olympics, whistle-blower Vitaly Stepanov said on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russia from the Pyeongchang Games on Tuesday after it found evidence of an "unprecedented systematic manipulation" of the anti-doping system.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Stepanov, a former employee of the Russian anti-doping agency RUSADA, helped expose massive doping problems in Russia in 2014 with his athlete wife Yulia Stepanova.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He welcomed the IOC decision as "fair" but expressed doubt that it would do much to change Russia's mindset in the short term.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I think we are still many years away from the time when the doping culture truly changes in Russia," he told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There are many sports officials running sports in Russia in the old way. Many coaches that are still doing the same... doping athletes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Many athletes who believe everybody is doping and the only way to win is to dope as well. Those are the things that have to change and it takes a long time."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Stepanov and his wife's evidence triggered a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) investigation that alleged the Russian government was complicit in an elaborate scheme of institutional doping.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Moscow has consistently denied state involvement and the couple, who live in the United States at an undisclosed location, have been denounced as traitors.</p>.<p class="bodytext">WADA has demanded Moscow own up to state-sponsored doping as a condition of lifting its suspension of RUSADA.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If the Russian president agrees to the terms by the IOC, and they do not boycott the Games, then that would mean they admit the guilt, admit the state-run doping system.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Even if they say something different, I think to the rest of the world it would be clear that they did it. Not that it is not clear now," added Stepanov.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You have to admit your own guilt before starting to change."</p>