The Russian Paralympic Committee has begun repaying the money the International Paralympic Committee claims it is owed ©RPC

Russia has taken an important step to fulfilling one of the main criteria for reinstatement laid out by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) by making its first payment to help cover the governing body's financial losses caused by the scandal.

The Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) has made an initial contribution of €6,000 (£5,000/$7,000) towards the total cost of €257,500 (£229,000/$303,000) the IPC is demanding.

The amount is relatively small but is being seen by the IPC as a sign of willingness from Russia to bring the affair to a close. 

The IPC banned Russia on the eve of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro following publication of the McLaren Report which claimed a total of 35 doping samples involving Russian Paralympic athletes between 2012 and 2015 were covered-up.

According to the second part of the McLaren Report, delivered in December 2016, six unnamed Russian gold medallists at Sochi 2014 were found to have had their urine samples tampered with. 

The suspension was extended earlier this year by the IPC to include Pyeongchang 2018 and Russian athletes were forced to compete as neutral athletes.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) last month lifted its own ban on the Russian Anti-Doping Agency but IPC President Andrew Parsons warned the RPC that they would not automatically be reinstated by his own organisation.

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons has made it clear that Russia must repay the €257,500 he claims they owe them before the country's ban can be lifted ©YouTube
International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons has made it clear that Russia must repay the €257,500 he claims they owe them before the country's ban can be lifted ©YouTube

Repayment of money the IPC is demanding is for "expenditure concerning the increased testing programme of Russian athletes and the taskforce", is a key demand.

The first payment was made following a telephone discussion between RPC first vice-president Pavel Rozhkov and IPC chief operating officer Mike Peters.

"In order to pay the remaining €251,500 (£224,000/$290,000) they [the RPC] said they needed some additional paperwork which we sent off to them yesterday," Craig Spence, IPC chief marketing and communications officer, told insidethegames. 

"On the basis of the agreements that had been reached, the Paralympic Committee of Russia made the first payments in line with the documents, provided by the International Paralympic Committee," a spokesman for the RPC said. 

"The RPC will make another series of payments next week, after receiving the originals of the accounting documents from the IPC."

Parsons is due to travel here where he will be officially sworn in as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member next Tuesday (October 9).

He is expected to hold informal talks about Russia with IOC President Thomas Bach.