The council of the World Athletics accepted the recommendation of the working group led by Rune Andersen and agreed to fully restore the status of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) The council of the World Athletics accepted the recommendation of the working group led by Rune Andersen and agreed to fully restore the status of the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF), World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.
In November 2015, RusAF was temporarily deprived of its membership in World Athletics (then � IAAF) amid a doping scandal. World Athletics has repeatedly extended the suspension of RusAF. In November 2022, the head of the working group, Rune Andersen, announced that in March of this year, the working group would make a final recommendation to restore the status of the RusAF. The World Athletics Council was held from March 21-23, it considered the issues of restoring the status of RusAF and the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in international competitions.
"The council agreed to the reinstatement of the Russian Federation, RusAF, following seven years of suspension," Coe said at a press conference.
"However, athletes, officials and supporting personnel from Russia and Belarus are still excluded from competition for the foreseeable future due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine," he added.
Within few weeks, World Athletics will formulate the conditions under which the suspension of Russia and Belarus can be lifted, Coe added.
