RUSSIA TASKFORCE REPORT TO COUNCIL MEETING OF 30 NOVEMBER 2022
1.

In November 2021, the 53rd World Athletics Congress resolved that the suspension of RusAF’s
membership of World Athletics should continue until Council decides that all of the conditions
set by Council for RusAF’s reinstatement have been met.

2.

In March 2022, in response to the invasion of Ukraine, Council decided to exclude Russian andBelarussian athletes, support personnel and officials from World Athletics Series events until
further notice, but said that the Taskforce should nevertheless continue its work monitoring andoverseeing RusAF’s attempts to meet the reinstatement conditions. The Taskforce reminds
Council that the Taskforce’s consideration of progress of the reinstatement plan has no bearing
on any Council decision on RusAF arising from the war in Ukraine.

3.

In October/November 2022, an independent audit was carried out of RusAF’s progress against
the requirements in the Reinstatement Plan approved by Council in March 2021. RusAF passed
that audit, subject to taking two remedial measures (adding certain protections to its
whistleblower policy, and formalising its policy for development of anti-doping and integrity inthe regions). Last week, the Taskforce met here in Rome with the lead auditor and theinternational experts to discuss the audit report. It noted their views, including the following:
3.1. Under Acting President Irina Privalova, the current RusAF leadership team has embedded
a new culture of good governance and zero tolerance for doping throughout theorganisation. This is evidenced in (for example) RusAF’s transparency (all rules,regulations, and policies are posted on the RusAF website and publicised widely in socialmedia), and its educational efforts (including delivery of values-based anti-doping
education for 13,000 young athletes), as well as in its reporting of historic anti-doping ruleviolations (ADRVs) uncovered in the Moscow Laboratory Information Management System(LIMS) (instead of suggesting that the athletes involved are the victims of an international
conspiracy, RusAF freely acknowledges and rejects their cheating).1
3.2. RusAF has established a regional council to facilitate the representation and participation ofthe regional federations in the governance of Russian athletics and provided anti-doping
and integrity training to those regional federations. RusAF also has established a system torate them based on anti-doping and integrity criteria.
3.3. Following positive changes at senior leadership level, RUSADA also appears to be working
effectively at an operational level. In particular, it has developed a test distribution plan that
includes more than 2,000 domestic tests of Russian track & field athletes per year, most ofwhich are out-of-competition tests. That testing has not resulted in many positive findings.
Provided that the testing is of sufficient quality (i.e., if it is based on intelligence and soundrisk assessment principles), that low level of positives is encouraging. The Taskforce willsecure and carefully consider the views of test distribution experts before coming to any
final conclusion.

4.

The Taskforce is encouraged by these facts. In particular, the Taskforce noted that RusAF has
undertaken certain important steps of its own initiative, i.e., that were not required as part of
the Reinstatement Plan. For example, RusAF has published its ratings of the regions on its
website, which transparency has created healthy competition between the regions in
implementing sustainable change. RusAF has also worked with the Ministry of Sport to ensure
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In July, I reported that the AIU had been unsuccessful in its efforts to obtain certain outstanding LIMS
data from the Moscow laboratory, and therefore had closed its investigation into the matter for the time being.
The Taskforce does not consider that this should prevent the lifting of the suspension of RusAF’s membership,
but it will recommend that the Post-Reinstatement Conditions include a specific requirement that if those data
are subsequently found, they must be passed on to the AIU for results management purposes.
1that government-funded athletes are fined for any single whereabouts violation (i.e., even if they
do not commit three in 12 months, which would constitute an ADRV). In addition, the Taskforce
was encouraged to hear that RUSADA receives more whistle-blowing reports about athletics
than about any other sport in Russia, and the number of such reports is the same ballpark,
proportionately, as WADA, the AIU, and others receive from their hotlines. The Taskforce takesthese developments as evidence that cultural change is starting to take root in Russian athletics.
5.

The Taskforce is not naïve, however. It acknowledges that widespread and sustainable culturalchange will likely take many years to embed, and regions and stakeholders will inevitably
proceed at different paces and with different degrees of support for that change. Furthermore,
RusAF remains subject to the oversight and control of the Russian Government, and theTaskforce notes with concern the decision of the RUSADA disciplinary commission not topublish its findings in the case of ice-skater Kamila Valieva, which indicates that not all parts ofthe domestic anti-doping framework are operating as robustly and independently as theyshould. However, the Taskforce takes comfort from the following:
5.1. First, it is the clear view of the auditors and the international experts that the processes andprocedures that the new RusAF leadership have put in place will impede the emergence ofany recidivist influences, and will ensure that if they do emerge, they will be detectable byany observer.
5.2. Second, the close monitoring and oversight of RusAF’s operations will not end when its
suspension from membership of World Athletics is lifted. Instead the AIU will take over thattask from the Taskforce, and will have one staff member full-time in RusAF’s offices in
Moscow and another staff member at the AIU who are specifically tasked with monitoring
RusAF’s fulfilment of a detailed set of Post-Reinstatement Conditions that will go
substantially beyond the requirements currently imposed on so-called ‘Category A’federations. That monitoring and oversight – the costs of which will all be paid by RusAF –should ensure that any material backsliding is quickly detected.
5.3. Third, to ensure no one is tempted to interfere, the Taskforce will recommend that Council
resolve that any material breach of the Post-Reinstatement Conditions will trigger a Council
proposal that Congress expels RusAF permanently from membership of World Athletics.

6.

The Taskforce now needs to finalise the proposed Post-Reinstatement Conditions with the AIU,
including to reflect the audit report findings and recommendations. RusAF also needs tomaintain its current progress without blemish, and to stay up to date on its payment of all
Taskforce-related costs.2 In addition, the Taskforce wishes to meet with the RusAF leadershipteam again after Peter Ivanov returns to the post of RusAF President on 17 December 2022
(when the two-year period of WADA sanctions ends), to obtain satisfactory confirmation of theirand RusAF’s enduring and unconditional commitment to the Post-Reinstatement Conditions.

7.

Subject to these points, however, the Taskforce will be in a position by March 2023 to make a
final recommendation to Council on the reinstatement of RusAF. The Taskforce intends to ask
World Athletics to hold a Council meeting on the proposed Post-Reinstatement Conditions
before presenting that final recommendation. Accordingly, the Council is not being asked tomake a decision today, but is simply asked to note that the Taskforce’s work overseeing andmonitoring RusAF continues. The Taskforce looks forward to reporting back to Council by March
2023.

Rune Andersen, Taskforce Chair

30 November 2022

2In October 2022, RusAF was invoiced USD$ 230,092.44 for the reinstatement costs incurred by WorldAthletics in the quarter ending 30 September 2022. RusAF has paid that invoice in full.
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