IOC reinstated the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee and recommended lifting all restrictions on Russian athletes

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has temporarily lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), which had been in effect since October 2023.

This is stated in a message on the IOC website.

They explained that they made this decision due to the fact that the Russian Olympic Committee excluded regional sports organizations from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine from its membership and confirmed in writing that it would not carry out any activities there.

At the same time, IOC stated that it would continue to monitor the actions of ROC and reserves the right to re-impose sanctions if the situation changes.

The International Olympic Committee also recommended lifting all restrictions on Russian athletes that were in place after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Now, each international federation will independently decide whether to allow Russians to participate in sports competitions under their national symbols.

At the same time, the return of Russian athletes to international competitions will not be automatic. They must undergo independent anti-doping control in accordance with the requirements of IOC, international federations and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

At the same time, the committee stressed that it continues to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and will continue to support the Ukrainian Olympic community. IOC assured that it will not hold its events in Russia and will not invite representatives of the Russian authorities to them.

• Russian athletes were banned from international competition in February 2022, following the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the International Olympic Committee recommended that sports federations remove Russians from tournaments.
• On March 28, 2023, the International Olympic Committee allowed Russians to compete in “neutral” status — without a flag, anthem, or national symbols. The exceptions were active service members of the Russian army and athletes who supported the war.
• At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Russians and Belarusians were allowed to compete only in individual sports. At this year’s Winter Olympics, 13 “neutral” Russians competed.

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