The International Biathlon Union refused to allow Russians to compete despite IOC recommendations

The International Biathlon Union refused to lift sanctions on Russian athletes and allow them to compete.

The head of the press service of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Sergey Averyanov complained.

According to him, the Russian Federation appealed to the International Biathlon Union before the congress, which is to be held in Berchtesgaden, Germany — the Russian side requested that athletes be returned to international competitions and that the Russian Biathlon Union be made a full member of the federation again.

However, the International Biathlon Union refused to consider the return of the Russians to the competition. They explained their position by saying that the conditions that led to the imposition of sanctions against the Russian Federation in 2022 have not been eliminated, and therefore the decision will not be reviewed.

It is worth adding that under the auspices of the International Biathlon Union, it is impossible to compete under neutral status — this means that it is impossible to even partially lift sanctions on the Russians.

• On July 7, the International Olympic Committee recommended lifting all restrictions on Russian athletes and temporarily reinstated the Russian Olympic Committee. Russian athletes were banned from international competition following the start of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• Then, on July 14, nine EU countries asked European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef to exclude the IOC and international federations that allow Russians and Belarusians to compete internationally from EU funding programs. Despite this, IOC did not change its position.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.