MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The Executive Committee of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has extended indefinitely the suspension of Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs from all tournaments supervised by the federation, FIBA’s press office announced in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Executive Committee has extended the current status quo regarding Russia and Belarus's participation in FIBA Competitions until the next Central Board meeting," the statement reads.

Commenting on the decision President of the Russian Basketball Federation Andrey Kirilenko told TASS that it was expected.

"This was certainly expected. I do not see yet that anything has changed," he said. We keep working in line with our plan, looking for opponents and drafting a schedule for the summer. The main emphasis now is on the regions and infrastructure development."

Vitaly Nosov, who played on two silver-medal winning Russian teams at the FIBA World Championships (1994, 1998), said FIBA’s decision was politically motivated.

"This is bad for everyone, including us. Russia is a great sports power, and we will find a way out of this later on. Although, these stories are absolutely political and biased," Nosov told TASS.

"I want us to come back with our heads held high, but meanwhile this is all bad and absolutely unfair," he said. "It’s hardly FIBA making such decisions - they are being told what to decide."

"It is possible to look for alternatives although this is all wrong. We are trying to find this alternative, but it is difficult to find anything similar to the EuroLeague, European tournaments and World Championships," Nosov added.

The world’s governing body of basketball suspended the national teams of Russia and Belarus on March 1, 2022 over the ongoing developments in Ukraine. The national teams were also excluded from the qualifiers for the 2023 Basketball World Cup.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended 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.

The Russian national basketball teams were barred from playing in the qualifying tournaments for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.