World Athletics World Athletics has halted the process of lifting Russia's suspension since November 2015. This was announced by World Athletics (formerly IAAF) on Friday. Thus, the association responded to the blocking of leading officials of the Russian Federation Rusaf by the Independent Integrity Commission (AIU).
The World Association accuses them of violations of the anti-doping rules. Among the provisionally suspended functionaries are also the president, Dmitri Schljachtin, and the managing director of the association, Alexander Parkin.
In addition, the association in Monte Carlo decided that the Russia Task Force and the Doping Review Board of the World Association should check whether the mechanisms for the admission of individual Russian athletes to international competitions work effectively and this review process should continue.
"Any decision of the Doping Review Board to get an athlete's approval will be provisional until the end of the investigation," said Task Force Director Rune Andersen of Norway. In addition, the task force was commissioned to recommend sanctions against the Rusaf, if the suspicion of the rule infringement should be confirmed.
The background is the case of the Russian high jumper Danil Lysenko. He should not have informed doping controllers about his whereabouts for possible tests. Lysenko is said to have forged medical documents with the help of officials.
Regardless, the Executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency will decide on sanctions against Russia on 9 December. The country is accused of manipulating doping data from the Moscow laboratory and covering up violations. If the allegation is confirmed, it will even be possible to exclude Russia from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
