The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) is to gauge Russia’s response to the final instalment of the Independent Person (IP) report being compiled for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by Richard McLaren before deciding if the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) can be readmitted to international competition. It also said that would not happen until the end of 2017 at the earliest.

At its next meeting in February 2017, the IAAF Council will also be asked change to the rules to require RusAF to cover the costs of the Taskforce and the disciplinary cases that have resulted from RusAF’s suspension, as a condition of reinstatement. That meeting will also consider a request from Mikhail Butov, General Secretary of RusAF, to readmit certain youth athletes, masters athlete and technical officials to competition.

An IAAF Taskforce was appointed in November 2015 to assess whether RusAF had implemented the required reforms to be readmitted to international competition. It said it required the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) to be able to conduct anti-doping operations in Russia; and ‘discussions are ongoing’ between WADA and Russian authorities on a roadmap for RUSADA to begin operations as a compliant NADO ‘before the end of 2017’. The Taskforce will visit Moscow in January to ‘assess the reaction’ to the McLaren Report.

‘The Taskforce recommends that there be no change to RusAF’s status now, but it will report again on progress at the Council’s next meeting, in February 2017, when it hopes to be able to identify a clear roadmap and timetable for RusAF’s reinstatement’, read a report (PDF below) from the IAAF Taskforce. It said that it and the IAAF Council must be satisfied that the IAAF and RUSADA will be able to conduct anti-doping programmes in Russia without interference. For that to happen, it said that McLaren’s findings will either have to be accepted or convincingly rebutted; and that RUSADA must meet the conditions for reinstatement outlined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The IAAF Taskforce said that RusAF had made progress towards fulfilling the conditions for reinstatement. ‘I can report that, under the very professional leadership of its president, Mr Dimitri Shlyakhtin, RusAF has made further progress towards satisfying the outstanding Verification Criteria, including rolling out anti-doping education modules for coaches and athletes, imposing clear contractual and regulatory obligations on coaches and athletes, and strengthening its ability to enforce its rules effectively’, read its report.