The task force of the world athletics association World Athletics (WA) wants to make a final recommendation for the reintegration of the Russian association RUSAF next March.
This was announced by WA following its council meeting on Wednesday evening.
The Russian association has been suspended since 2015 because of the doping and manipulation scandal in the country.
Due to the war of aggression in Ukraine, Russia would not be allowed to compete in international competitions anyway.
As task force chief Rune Andersen explained, a prerequisite for reintegration is that the RUSAF makes further progress in fulfilling the measures from the catalog it has been given.
According to Andersen, under the new President Irina Privalova, Olympic champion in the 2000 400 m hurdles, “a new culture of good leadership and zero tolerance for doping” can be observed.
Until spring 2022, Russians were only admitted to international competitions under neutral status, provided they met certain criteria. This possibility disappeared with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Andersen made it clear that the RUSAF’s progress on its reintegration plan will be evaluated in terms of federation governance and anti-doping policy. The WA Council, which meets again in March, will make its own decision on the RUSAF’s status in relation to the war in Ukraine.