An international anti-doping commission recommended Monday that the Russian Athletics Federation be banned from the sport over widespread doping offenses - a move that could see the powerhouse Russian team miss next year's Rio Olympics.

The commission, set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), found a "deeply rooted culture of cheating" in Russian athletics. But it also identified what it called systemic failures in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

It said in its report that the London 2012 Olympics had been "sabotaged" by the widespread inaction of international and national anti-doping authorities.

"For 2016 our recommendation is that the Russian Federation be suspended, in fact one of our hopes is that they will volunteer that, so that they can take the remedial work in time to make sure that Russian athletes can compete under a new framework if you like," Dick Pound, president of WADA, told a news conference in ­Geneva.

Russia finished second behind the US in the medal table at the 2012 Olympics, with 17 medals, eight of them gold, and has long been one of the chief players in track and field.

The scandal revolves around accusations that money was demanded from top athletes to "bury" medical tests from Russian athletes that showed drug use to enhance performance.

It could prove as damaging to world athletics as the corruption affair now shaking soccer's world governing body FIFA, where President Sepp Blatter has been suspended and 14 officials and marketing executives indicted on corruption charges.

There has never been any suggestion that FIFA corruption has affected results on the pitch, at the World Cup, for example.

The reach of corruption in global sport could in part be explained by a huge influx of sponsorship in recent decades into bodies lacking effective governance and supervisory procedures.

The International Olympic Committee was hit by a graft scandal 15 years ago, while cricket and cycling have also been tainted.

The IAAF, which has been engulfed in a crisis spanning alleged corruption, bribery and widespread doping coverups, said steps would be taken to ban the Russian Athletics Federation (ARAF).

"The information in WADA's Independent Commission Report is alarming. We need time to properly digest and ­understand the detailed findings included in the report," IAAF President Sebastian Coe said in a statement.

Vadim Zelichenok, the acting head of the Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA), told ­Reuters on Monday that neither the WADA nor the IOC had the right to suspend Russia from world athletics. "It is only a recommendation," Zelichenok said. Only the IAAF could make a decision about suspending the VFLA, said Zelichenok.