IAAF says Russians are trying to reform anti-doping procedures

The head of the International Association of Athletics Federations taskforce deciding if Russia's athletics ban should be lifted says the country is making efforts to reform.

Russia was suspended by the IAAF from international competition, including the Olympics, in November after a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency accused Russia of having a state-sponsored doping programme.

Norwegian anti-doping expert Rune Andersen, who heads the taskforce, held meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Moscow with Russian government and sports officials.

Andersen said: "The Russians have recognised that there is an issue, a problem, and they are trying to fix it.

"There is an open and frank discussion. There are no obstructions to what we're trying to do. Everyone wants to find solutions to the problems that Russian athletics has had today."

He added that "several" more meetings were planned with "our Russian friends" before the taskforce reports back to the IAAF in March.

The Russian athletics federation is due to elect a new president on Saturday as part of its own reform program. The frontrunner is longtime general secretary Mikhail Butov, who also sits on the IAAF's ruling council.

"We have talked about the structure, that's part of the verification criteria, and of course that will be part of the discussion when we move on to this, but the new leadership of ARAF will be part of our discussion partners in the future," Andersen said.

On Monday UK Athletics launched a manifesto to clean up athletics, which includes a proposal to re-set world records.