The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) has been fined $10 million by the World Athletics Council for breaching the sport’s anti-doping rules, DW reported.
World Athletics has also reinstated the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) process for Russian athletes but has capped the number of ANAs allowed to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and other World Athletics and European Athletics events at 10.
No restrictions have been placed on the number of ANA athletes eligible to compete in international one-day events around the world. World Athletics stressed however that the ANA process will be suspended if half of the $10m fine is not paid by July 1.
The remaining $5 million of the fine will be suspended for two years and is to be paid immediately if RusAF commits a further breach of anti-doping rules during that period, or if it fails to make “meaningful progress” towards satisfying the reinstatement conditions set by the Council.
RusAF has been suspended from the membership of World Athletics since November 2015, a status that was upheld by the sport’s world governing body ahead of the 2019 World Championships in Doha. A new set of criteria for RusAF’s reinstatement includes the establishment of a Reinstatement Commission from a number of organizations and at least two representatives appointed by the body’s Athletes’ Commission; and two World Athletics-designated international experts that will participate in the work and meetings of the Reinstatement Commission, with RusAF bearing the costs.
“The package of sanctions approved by the Council today reflects the seriousness of RusAF’s wrongdoing and sends a clear message that we take these types of offenses by our Member Federations extremely seriously,” said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe.
“The Council feels severely let down by the previous RusAF administration, which is why it has approved a new set of criteria for reinstatement of the Federation. This requires the new administration to set a clear roadmap for reinstatement, to be approved by Council, and greater oversight of the roadmap process by independent international personnel based in Russia,” he added.
