MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. /TASS/. The Russian and Belarusian swimmers have been excluded from participating in all of the upcoming FINA (the International Swimming Federation) tournaments, FINA’s press office said in a statement on Wednesday.

On March 1, FINA announced that it allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions under a neutral status.

"Further to the FINA Bureau’s decision on 8 March 2022 and the new measures at its disposal to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from FINA competitions, and following the review of an independent risk assessment, the FINA Bureau met today and confirmed that athletes and officials from Russia and Belarus will not take part in the upcoming 19th FINA World Championships Budapest 2022," the statement reads.

"FINA also previously removed a number of aquatics events scheduled for Russia," according to the statement.

"Today, the FINA Bureau also decided to remove the hosting of the FINA Swimming World Championships (25M) 2022 from Kazan (Russia)," the organization said in its statement. "The scheduled dates of 17-22 December 2022 will be maintained, and FINA is currently in discussions with potential hosts to take over the event."

Earlier, FINA cancelled the 2021 World Junior Swimming Championships, which were going to be held in Russia’s Kazan from August 23 to 28, 2022, as well as the stages of the World Series of synchronized swimming and diving in Kazan.

The FINA Men's Water Polo World League men's tournament between Russia and Greece was cancelled in St. Petersburg on March 8. In 2022, Kazan planned to host the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships (December 17-22).