The IOC returns Belarus to the Olympic system, Russia remains under restrictions
The International Olympic Committee has opened a new phase in its treatment of athletes from Belarus and Russia, two countries that since 2022 had been covered by the strictest sporting restrictions after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The IOC Executive Board lifted the restrictions on Belarusian athletes and thereby enabled them to return to international competitions under national symbols, including the qualification processes for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. The decision does not automatically mean that every international federation will immediately change its own rules, but it represents the most important signal from Lausanne since the introduction of sanctions. For Russia, however, such a return has not yet been opened: Russian athletes can still compete only as neutral individuals, under strict conditions and without state insignia, while the legal and anti-doping aspects of their status are being further considered.
Different treatment of the two countries after joint sanctions
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the IOC has largely treated Russia and Belarus in the same package, because Belarus was designated as a key ally of Moscow and as the territory from which Russia launched part of the military operation. The recommendations from 2022 were aimed at excluding athletes and officials from both countries from international competitions, and the later model of neutral status allowed only a limited number of athletes who had no links with the military, security services or active support for the war to compete. The latest decision introduces a distinction between the Belarusian and Russian cases: the Belarusian National Olympic Committee is now, according to the IOC's position, considered a body that meets the conditions of the Olympic Charter, while the Russian Olympic Committee remains suspended.
Such a turn is particularly important for sports in which qualification for Los Angeles 2028 begins significantly before the Games themselves. Belarusian athletes could now, in disciplines in which international federations accept the IOC guideline, compete under the Belarusian flag, with the possibility of participation also in team formats. This abandons the model that reduced Belarusians, just like Russians, to the category of individual neutral athletes. In practice, however, the decision will be implemented unevenly, because international federations have considerable autonomy in organizing their competitions, in security assessments and in interpreting their own rules.
Russian athletes still only as neutral individuals
For Russian athletes, the regime that the IOC applied at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games remains in force. That model provides that they may compete only as individual neutral athletes, without the Russian flag, anthem, state colours and official representation of Russia. Teams with Russian passports are not covered by such a model, and athletes who publicly supported the war or are contractually connected with the Russian army and security agencies do not meet the conditions. The same restrictions also apply to members of expert staffs, doctors, coaches and other accompanying personnel.
The reason why the Russian case is not being resolved together with the Belarusian one is not only political in nature. The Russian Olympic Committee was suspended in October 2023 after it unilaterally included sports organizations from the territories of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian regions whose territorial integrity the IOC recognizes through the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. The IOC then assessed that this was a violation of the Olympic Charter and of the territorial rights of the Ukrainian Olympic movement. In addition, the Russian anti-doping system remains under additional scrutiny because of new questions connected with the work of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency and the legacy of the Sochi 2014 scandal.
The anti-doping file further slows Russia's return
The most sensitive part of Russian sporting reintegration concerns trust in anti-doping institutions. According to available information, the World Anti-Doping Agency has launched an investigation connected with Veronika Loginova, the director general of RUSADA, after allegations of a possible role in covering up doping findings from the period of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Loginova has rejected those accusations, but the very fact that the case is being examined further complicates a faster political-sporting compromise. For the IOC, the issue of anti-doping is not just a technical detail, but one of the key conditions for the credibility of international competition, especially after years of disputes over the Russian state doping system.
For that reason, Russian status lies between two processes: the political question of the war in Ukraine and the institutional question of trust in sports administration. Even in a scenario of easing political sanctions, open anti-doping investigations may slow or limit a return under Russian national symbols. In doing so, the IOC is trying to maintain the distinction between individual athletes and the state, but at the same time it does not want to open space for the participation of institutions it considers responsible for violating the Olympic Charter or the rules of sporting integrity. In that sense, neutral status for Russians is currently a compromise that enables a limited right to compete, but not full rehabilitation of the national Olympic system.
The IOC decision does not bind all federations equally
Although the decision of the IOC Executive Board is a strong political and institutional message, it does not immediately erase all restrictions in all sports. International federations retain the right to decide themselves how they will apply the recommendations, under what conditions they will organize competitions and whether they will allow Belarusian athletes to compete under national insignia. This means that in some sports a path toward full reintegration may open quickly, while others may retain a more cautious approach. Such fragmentation is already visible in the different reactions of world sports bodies.
World Athletics, one of the most influential international federations, immediately signaled that it does not intend to follow the IOC recommendation on the return of Belarus. Athletics has had one of the toughest lines toward Russia and Belarus since the beginning of the war, and Russian track-and-field athletes had been under a special regime even before the invasion because of the doping scandal. According to the current position of that federation, the return of athletes from both countries will not be considered without significant progress toward peace in Ukraine. The opposite direction had already earlier been taken by World Aquatics, which eased or removed restrictions for Russian and Belarusian athletes in aquatic sports, showing that the Olympic system is entering a period of different, sport-by-sport solutions.
Los Angeles 2028 increases pressure on the final rules
The timing of the decision is not accidental. Although the Olympic Games in Los Angeles are more than two years away, qualification calendars, ranking lists and continental competitions in many sports begin much earlier. Athletes who cannot participate in qualifications practically lose the possibility of competing at the Games, even if their status were changed later. For that reason, the IOC is under pressure for the rules for Belarus, Russia and neutral athletes to be defined early enough so that international federations, national associations and competition organizers can plan seasons.
For Belarusian athletes, the decision opens a more realistic path toward Olympic qualifications without a special neutral regime. For Russian athletes, however, uncertainty remains as to whether the model of neutral individuals will continue toward Los Angeles 2028 or whether space for broader easing will open in the meantime. For now, the IOC is not sending a message that Russia's return under state symbols is close. On the contrary, it emphasizes that Russian status must be assessed separately, through legal, political and anti-doping circumstances. Such an approach enables gradual easing toward one country, while toward the other the regime of extraordinary restrictions is maintained.
The Ukrainian context remains the center of the dispute
In the background of all sporting decisions remains the war in Ukraine and the question of whether sport can separate individual careers from the actions of states. For years, the IOC has advocated the position that athletes should not be punished exclusively because of their passport, but it applies that principle with conditions that exclude persons connected with war propaganda, the military or security structures. Ukraine and part of the international sporting public believe that neutral status does not remove political symbolism, especially while Russian aggression continues and while Ukrainian athletes train and compete in wartime circumstances. For that reason, decisions on Russia and Belarus are at the same time legal, ethical and diplomatic, and not only sports-administrative.
The Belarusian case is additionally sensitive because the country was sanctioned because of its role in the Russian invasion, but its Olympic committee is now, according to the IOC's assessment, different from the Russian one in terms of institutional status. Critics of such an approach may argue that it separates Minsk's political responsibility from Moscow's responsibility too early, while supporters of the decision stress that athletes should not permanently bear the consequences of government decisions if they themselves do not violate Olympic rules. The IOC is trying to position itself between those opposing demands: to protect the right of individuals to compete, but not to allow international sport to be used for the official promotion of a state that is under sanctions.
A broader trend of gradual easing and resistance
The decision on Belarus fits into a broader trend of gradual reconsideration of sporting sanctions introduced in 2022. The International Paralympic Committee earlier lifted the partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus after a vote by its members, while individual federations began returning athletes under different conditions. At the same time, other sports continue with complete or almost complete bans. Such inconsistency shows that the Olympic movement does not have a single operational model for long-lasting geopolitical crises, but instead is trying to harmonize the autonomy of federations, the demands of sporting integrity, security assessments and public pressure.
For the IOC, the decision on Belarus is also a test of a new balance ahead of Los Angeles 2028. If it proves that Belarusian athletes can return without serious incidents, that will strengthen the arguments of those advocating a broader opening of the Olympic system. If, however, political provocations, disputes over symbols or boycott threats appear, international federations could continue with more restrictive rules. Russia remains the most difficult case because its status is not reduced only to the war, but also to the suspended Olympic committee and open questions of anti-doping credibility. Therefore, the latest decision does not mean the end of Olympic sanctions from the period after the invasion of Ukraine, but the beginning of their selective and very cautious revision.
Sources:
- International Olympic Committee – decision on the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and the consequences for its status (link)
- International Olympic Committee – explanation of the rules for individual neutral athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport (link)
- International Olympic Committee – rules for neutral athletes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games (link)
- GMA News / AFP – report on the IOC decision to lift restrictions on Belarusian athletes and retain restrictions on Russia (link)
- The Guardian – report on Russian status, the investigation connected with RUSADA and the anti-doping context (link)
- The Times – report on the reaction of World Athletics and the refusal to ease the ban on Belarus in athletics (link)
- ABC News Australia – report on the decision of World Aquatics to ease restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes (link)
- Associated Press – report on the lifting of partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus in the International Paralympic Committee (link)
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