MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has published criteria the Russian Paralympic Committee must meet to have its IPC membership reinstated, its press release said on Monday.
Criteria are divided into two categories - reinstatement criteria, outlining the conditions the RPC must meet, and "supporting the reinstatement criteria are the underlying verification criteria, which set out certain specific matters that need to be rectified by the RPC."
Under the reinstatement criteria, the RPC must comply with all the requirements of the World Anti-Doping Program (Including, in particular, the World Anti-Doping Code).
"The RPC, IPC, International Federations and RUSADA (once RUSADA has been declared Code-compliant again) are all able to carry out their respective anti-doping activities in Russia and in relation to Russian Para athletes and athlete support personnel effectively and without external interference (as part of this, the RPC will need to adequately address the findings of the McLaren Report)," the press release said.
"As a result, the participation in IPC-sanctioned competitions of Para athletes and athlete support personnel under the RPC’s jurisdiction will not jeopardise the integrity of those competitions," it went on.
As to verification criteria, "The RPC must, at its cost, establish an RPC coordination committee of suitably qualified representatives who are ready, willing and able to ensure that the RPC satisfies the reinstatement criteria and verification criteria," the press release said.
The RPC must provide the IPC Taskforce with details of each RPC staff member, director, officer, board/committee member, coach and athlete support personnel, it went on.
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"The RPC will not appoint any Russian government official to its governing board, executive committee, or in any other role," it said.
The Russian Paralympic Committee should provide to the IPC a list of athletes "who the RPC would wish to put forward for participation in IPC-sanctioned competitions" by December 15, the IPC said in a press release.
"The RPC may amend that list from time to time, and also may be required to prioritise athletes on the National List, in particular taking into account the available capacity for testing," the press release says.
According to the press release, "the IPC will include certain Russian athletes from this National List in its International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP). The RPC must procure that all athletes on the National List who are not included in the IPC's IRTP are included in the National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP) administered by RUSADA (or by such other WADA-approved entity standing in for RUSADA pending its reinstatement)."
The International Paralympic Committee also said that "the RPC and the Russian athletes included in the IRTP, NRTP and other Registered Testing Pools must ensure that testing can be conducted without any hindrance, delay, obstruction or interference."
RPC to consider criteria on December 1
The committee has received from the International Paralympic Committee the criteria for its reinstatement in that organization and is intensively working on studying these documents, the committee’s President, Vladimir Lukin, said.
"We have received the document, and now our experts are studying the text and translating it," Lukin said. "Intensive work is in progress, and as soon as we are through with it, we will formulate our attitude to these criteria. Our work will be measured in days rather than months."
RPC Vice President Rimma Batalova told TASS the committee will consider the criteria at a meeting of its executive board on December 1.
"Before saying anything about any criteria we must thoroughly study them, which is only possible after he receive the translation. Details become clear only after a high-quality professional translation," she said. "We will discuss these criteria at the RPC executive board meeting on December 1."
The RPC said it has offered the IPC to organize a personal meeting between their top officials to specify the criteria RPC must comply with to reinstate its IPC membership.
"Our proposal is to organize a personal meeting between the RPC’s and IPC’s senior officials at the IPC’s office in Bonn to specify positions on that matter," RPC said in a press statement.
On August 7, the IPC decided to bar the whole Russian Paralympic team from taking part in the 2016 Summer Paralympics. The ruling came on the heels of a report delivered earlier in the summer by the Independent Commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The commission, led by Canadian sports law professor Richard McLaren, claimed in particular that a total of 35 doping samples were concealed by Russian Paralympic sports between 2012 and 2015. However, it turned out later that not all the stated cases of concealed doping samples concerned the Russian Paralympic Committee. Nevertheless, the IPC decided on collectively punishing the Russian national team.