KRASNOYARSK, October 22. /TASS/. Russia will keep fighting for the return of its national track and field athletes to the international arena resorting to political, legal and diplomatic measures among other tools, Russian Sports Minister and President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Mikhail Degtyarev said on Thursday.

"There are qualifying competitions underway [for the 2028 Olympics] besides the track and field athletics," Degtyarev said speaking at the 14th "Russia: Country of Sports" international sports forum in Krasnoyarsk.

"As for the track and field athletics, we will fight to defend in courts our rights resorting to political, legal and diplomatic methods," he noted.

The 14th ""Russia: Country of Sports"" annual international sports forum is taking place in Russia’s second-largest Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on October 21-23 with the support of the Russian government and the Sports Ministry. The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Krasnoyarsk Region government. TASS is the official information partner of the forum.

The annual forum was established in 2009 by a decree of the Russian president to promote physical culture and sport, international sports cooperation, and a healthy lifestyle.

On July 3, the Council of World Athletics ruled to uphold the suspension of athletes from Russia and Belarus from its sponsored international competitions, noting that it was still considering options regarding their admission.

About a week later, the All-Russia Athletics Federation (RusAF) submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against World Athletics’ decision to prolong the suspension of Russian track and field athletes.

In March 2022, World Athletics announced a decision to bar all Russian and Belarusian athletes from international track and field tournaments due to the developments in Ukraine.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a decision on July 7 to provisionally lift an earlier-imposed suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and also recommended lifting restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes in all international tournaments.