PRAGUE: IOC President Thomas Bach says he has been notified of “some very important first steps” taken by Russia to reform its anti-doping program following the suspension of its track and field federation.

Bach spoke Friday with Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov, who informed him of measures being taken to sanction drug cheats and fall into compliance with global anti-doping rules.

Bach says “these important steps include renewal, include new people, include also new inquiries.”

Bach spoke in Prague, where he was addressing a meeting of the European Olympic Committees.

He also outlined plans for making drug-testing independent of sports organizations, including proposals for the World Anti-Doping Agency to create new testing and intelligence gathering units, and for all sanctions to be handed down by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Bulgaria barred from 2016 Olympic weightlifting for doping

Meantime, Bulgaria cannot send a weightlifting team to the 2016 Olympics because of its steroids doping record.

The International Weightlifting Federation says its executive board ruled that “Bulgaria is not eligible to participate” in Rio de Janeiro in August.

In March, eight men and three women from the Bulgaria team tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol during training.

Bulgaria then withdrew its team from the European Championships, and the 11 athletes were suspended from the world championships which start Friday in Houston.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Bulgaria sent two weightlifters who both placed fifth.

The IWF says it also took one Olympic entry place from Romania because of “multiple positive cases” of doping.