Russia’s athletics federation has turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to overturn World Athletics’ decision to continue the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions because of the war in Ukraine.World Athletics banned athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus from all international events in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.The governing body decided to continue the suspension at last week’s council meeting. The move comes even as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently eased its ban on Russian athletes ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and recommended that other international sports federations follow suit. The Kremlin described the IOC’s decision as an “important step.”In a statement, the Russian athletics federation said the continued suspension would unfairly affect its athletes.“Russian Athletics says that the decision of World Athletics affects the fundamental interests of Russian athletics and restricts the right of Russian athletes to compete, on grounds that Russian Athletics considers discriminatory.“Russian Athletics continues to pursue all available legal measures to protect the interests of Russian athletes.”CAS has not yet confirmed whether the case has been officially registered, the AP news agency reported.Last week, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the governing body discussed the possibility of creating “a conditional pathway back to international competition” for Russian and Belarusian athletes but ultimately decided against it.“We have presented the options for the council to consider this matter, however, the original decision remains the sanctions that protect the integrity and fairness of our competitions, with no visible movement towards peace negotiations being realized,” he said.Russia has not competed under its own flag at the World Athletics Championships since 2015, when its federation was suspended due to a widespread doping scandal.Although a system allowing Russian athletes to compete as neutrals was introduced later, it was withdrawn in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine. World Athletics lifted the original doping-related suspension in 2023.No Russian athletes will compete in track and field at the 2024 Paris Olympics because qualification for athletics is controlled by World Athletics, despite the IOC allowing neutral athletes to compete in many other sports.