RusAF was reinstated by World Athletics in March, having been suspended since 2015 because of the state-sponsored doping scandal, although its athletes remain unable to participate in its events due to the war in Ukraine.

Petr Ivanov returned as RusAF President in December last year after the expiration of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) sanctions preventing Russian Government officials from holding sports leadership roles, which affected him having overseen high-speed railways.

He had been elected in November 2020 but was forced to step down in February 2021 because of the WADA sanctions, which were halved from four to two years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Andersen told delegates in the Hungarian capital that confidence in the RusAF leadership was a key factor in its reinstatement.

"First, an independent audit team confirmed that RusAF met all of the detailed criteria and requirements set out in the reinstatement plan that the Council approved in March 2021," he said.

"Second, RusAF accepted a detailed set of cost reinstatement conditions that are designed to ensure there will be no backsliding from the significant progress that has been made since it was reinstated to membership.

"These conditions are in addition to the special requirements that RusAF would have to meet as a category A member federation under the World Athletics anti-doping rules.

"I told Council that the Taskforce had met with RusAF President Petr Ivanov and the senior management team in person in Istanbul prior to the Council meeting, and was satisfied that they understand the importance of these requirements and they are committed to complying with them.

"I also noted that RusAF has reimbursed World Athletics for all of its costs of the reinstatement process, ensuring that World Athletics and its members are not out of pocket as a result of RusAF's action."

RusAF's implementation of conditions for its reinstatement are set to be policed by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) at the national governing body's cost.

The Taskforce's final meeting is due to be held tomorrow, and Andersen promised it would draw together lessons learned from its work for the consideration of the Council.

He thanked Task Force members Anna Riccardi of Italy, Abby Hoffman of Canada, Geoff Gardner of Norfolk Island and Rožle Prezelj of Slovenia, the World Athletics Council, AIU, management and President Sebastian Coe of Britian for their support.

Andersen admitted "it turned out to be a much longer journey than any of us had anticipated and there have undoubtedly been many bumps in the road", but insisted the Task Force's work was necessary.

"In my opinion, many International Federations could learn a great deal from how you have dealt so firmly and resolutely with these problems in Russia, always staying true to your principles and never shirking from the tough decisions that were made to protect clean sport, your sport," he said.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Coe claimed the Task Force had shown "the importance in any federation of patience and process".

"The one thing I have always wanted and I take some pride from is whenever we made a tough a decision, we have always been able to stand behind a process going forward," he said.

"The Task Force was a really good example of that.

"There were criticisms of the action we took and that came from everywhere from other federations and even in the International Olympic Committee, but it was really important that we had a process that we were able to stand behind, and that's why I was able to so fulsomely thank Rune Andersen and his team."

Coe has resisted the IOC's recommendations for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to competitions as individual neutrals under certain conditions, insisting he is "not a neutral" in the war in Ukraine.

He said the prospect of either country returning in athletics before the Paris 2024 Olympics was "unlikely".

Coe was re-elected unopposed as World Athletics President for a third and final term at the Congress prior to the World Athletics Championships due to begin on Saturday (August 19).

The Congress is set to conclude tomorrow.