Moscow (AFP)
World Athletics announced Monday that it has rejected a request by the Russian Athletics Federation (Rusaf) to defer payment of a fine for its anti-doping rule violations.
This fine of five million dollars (4.4 million euros) to which the Russian Athletics Federation was condemned in March must be settled by July 1 at the latest.
If Rusaf does not pay by the deadline, its quota of ten Russian athletes authorized to run under neutral banner will be suspended.
"We confirm having received the request from Rusaf" to postpone the payment, said World Athletics spokeswoman Nicole Jeffery in a statement sent to AFP.
"We replied that there would be no changes to the sanctions," she said.
"The deadline for payment is July 1, 2020," said the statement.
Rusaf vice-president Edouard Bezouglov announced Sunday that the Russian Athletics Federation had sent a letter to World Athletics asking to postpone the payment since "it is difficult to pay this amount at the moment".
"We don't have that money," he said in early June in an interview with a Russian sports news site.
Contacted by AFP, the Russian Athletics Federation declined to comment.
Last week, several Russian athletes including star Maria Lasitskene called on their federation to settle the fine due to World Athletics, saying they fear they will miss not only "the next international season, but also the Tokyo Olympics".
World Athletics froze in November 2019 the process allowing handpicked athletes to compete outside Russia, the Russian Federation is accused of helping 2017 height vice world champion Danil Lysenko escape punishment for breaches of its localization obligations for unannounced checks.
The body also froze the reintegration process of Russia, suspended since November 2015 for having established an institutional doping system.
In March, World Athletics authorized a maximum of ten Russian athletes to compete under the neutral banner in the competitions and the Olympic Games in Tokyo, scheduled for 2021.
© 2020 AFP