MOSCOW, Mar 23, Andrey Simonenko. World Athletics Association (World Athletics) received a letter from the All-Russian Federation of Athletics (ARAF) with questions about the process of obtaining a neutral status by Russian athletes, the World Athletics press service said. Earlier, the acting president of the ARAF, Irina Privalova, said that the federation was waiting for a response from the World Athletics Association (World Athletics) on a number of specific issues regarding the neutral status of Russian athletes and their suspension from international competitions. «We can confirm that we have received correspondence from the ARAF regarding the process of achieving the neutral status of the athletes. However, the first priority of World Athletics is to confirm the full payment to the ARAF of outstanding bills for work under the recovery program membership of Russia in the World Athletic Association — one of the key terms of the roadmap,» the press service of World Athletics said. Since 2015, due to the suspension of the VFLA due to doping scandals, Russian athletes could only compete in tournaments in a neutral status. In early March, against the backdrop of events in Ukraine, World Athletics decided not to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to the next starts under its auspices.
