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Russia needs maintaining contact with IOC, int’l sports federations — sports minister

"We need to understand what role Russia will be playing in the world of sports in 5-10 years to come," Oleg Matytsin added

MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Russia must continue cooperating with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and sports federations despite the current political situation in the world, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on Wednesday.

"We need to understand what role Russia will be playing in the world of sports in 5-10 years to come, to start today establishing cooperation with the IOC and international federations," Matytsin said speaking at the Sports Ministry’s Board meeting.

"We need to define the perspective regarding the future elections as well as the status of our participation in tournaments. The next year will be a landmark year," the minister added.

IOC’s ban on Russia’s international participation

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.