Russia's anti-doping agency, RUSADA, will decide on December 19 whether to appeal the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) decision to ban major Russian competitions and the Olympics for four years.

According to sportsintegrityinitiative.com (SII), RUSADA's oversight committee will meet next week to discuss the appeal, focusing on the authenticity of the testing data provided to WADA by whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov.

WADA used a copy of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) data provided by Rodchenkov in 2017 and compared it to that provided earlier this year under the terms of RUSADA's reinstatement, finding numerous discrepancies and evidence of data manipulation.

According to SII, Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov refuted the validity of the data provided by Rodchenkov.

"Rodchenkov's database is illegal and cannot be compared because it is unclear how it was obtained," Kolobkov said.

"Can one imagine such a development in a normal criminal or civil proceeding? Stolen databases. Where did it come from? Unknown. Why would it be used as a standard?

"On this basis, the Russian Investigative Committee and our experts requested all relevant information to submit a technical report on why their database (which was recovered by WADA in January 2019) should be considered authentic. The answer was no."

If Russia appeals, WADA's ban on Russia as a host or competing country at major competitions and the requirement for Russian athletes to prove their innocence before being allowed to compete under a neutral flag may not take effect until CAS makes a decision.

The trial could last until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.