The IAAF Council confirmed on Thursday that the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) accepted the recommendation for a full suspension in the wake of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation that revealed systematic “state-sponsored” doping in Russia. 

 

Written confirmation was received yesterday from ARAF which indicated they would accept their full suspension without requesting a hearing. 

 

In a letter written to Nick Davies, the IAAF Deputy General Secretary, Mikhail Butov, the ARAF General Secretary wrote that ARAF “recognizes the suspension without a hearing.”

 

“We recognize suspension without a hearing. We understand fully that the IAAF Council could reinstate ARAF as a Member according to its decision after solutions and recommendation of IAAF verification Commission only. We will cooperate with nominated Commission very actively,” wrote Butov. 

 

Butov also mentioned that he hoped for a “positive result after certain time and full come back to the IAAF family,” and that they are “working very hard now in Russia to change a lot.”

 

The Russian Athletic Federation was already provisionally suspended from all international competition after an IAAF Council Meeting on Nov. 13 voted overwhelmingly, 22-1 in favor of the recommendation which was brought on by WADA. The suspension effectively banned Russia from the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as the World Athletic Series. 

 

Because ARAF accepted the full suspension without a hearing, ARAF will have to “fulfill a list of criteria,” in order to regain membership to the IAAF, which Butov also recognized in his letter. 

The IAAF will decide on the "full list of criteria" in a meeting in Monaco on Thursday, which will reveal the criteria that Russia needs to meet in order to be reinstated back into world athletics. 

 

The IAAF has stated that an IAAF inspection team will decide if ARAF has fulfilled the verification criteria. ARAF will have to go through an inspection conducted by Independent Chair Rune Anderson, an independent international anti-doping expert and three members of the IAAF Council.