Sir Philip, the Briton replaced by Andrew Parsons as President earlier this year, was in fact present and listening on loudspeaker as the call was received at their headquarters in Bonn.

The speaker spoke with Sir Philip's voice using recordings from previous speeches and interviews ordered into sentences using a keyboard.

It is believed to have been part of a conspiracy to undermine him and create confusion shortly before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcement that Russian athletes would have to participate neutrally at Pyeongchang 2018.

Similar calls from "Sir Philip" were thought to have been received yesterday by the IOC and Hajo Seppelt, the German ARD journalist who led the original investigation into Russian doping in athletics in 2014 and 2015.

According to the IPC, they received a phone call from "Sir Philip" at their main office while the Briton was present attending a meeting.

They then redialled the number and this was answered by somebody, who said that "Sir Philip" - who was actually now sitting listening to the conversation - was "in a meeting so would call back shortly". 

They then re-dialed the number and received a Russian voicemail message before "Sir Philip" did in fact call back.

A recording of the then-IPC President Sir Philip Craven allegedly falling victim to a prank phone call was posted online in October 2016 and appeared to criticise the IOC and its President Thomas Bach.

The RT television station in Russia published a recording of phone calls supposedly featuring Sir Philip talking to a prankster, who was posing as Edwin Moses, a two-time 400 metre hurdles Olympic gold medallist and now chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. 

The IPC opted to introduce a blanket ban on Russian athletes competing at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro following Richard McLaren’s report into state sponsored doping in the country.

The IOC rejected a call from the World Anti-Doping Agency to do the same and instead handed responsibility to International Federations to form individual criteria for Olympic participation.

They yesterday took a different response and announced that Russian must compete under the OAR acronym, meaning "Olympic Athletes from Russia" - although this may be lifted at the Closing Ceremony.

It follows their conclusion that Russia operation a "systemic manipulation" of doping samples at their home Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

Twenty-five Russians have so far been retrospectively disqualified by the IOC - with 22 having so far appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.