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IOC discriminates against Russian athletes — Russian Olympic chief

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency pointed out that this was the first public announcement to the Japanese media on behalf of the Russian Olympic chief since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine

TOKYO, February 2. /TASS/. The ban on Russian athletes representing their country under the national flag at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo is blatant political discrimination on national grounds, Russian Sports Minister and President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Mikhail Degtyarev said on Monday.

"Russian athletes not being allowed to represent their country is a case of political discrimination based on their ethnicity, which violates the Olympic Charter," the high-ranking Russian sports official said in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News Agency.

Degtyarev also slammed the previously announced ban on Russian athletes’ participation in various Olympic qualifying tournaments as an "outrageous case that creates an unacceptable precedent" even for those athletes who had been cleared to compete under a neutral status.

According to the Japanese news outlet, the Russian Olympic chief pledged that his country’s authorities would continue providing diplomatic and legal support to the country’s national athletes to make sure that their rights are fully restored.

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency pointed out that this was the first public announcement to the Japanese media on behalf of the Russian Olympic chief since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The event will take place on February 6-22, 2026. Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Olympics under a neutral status and only in individual competitions.

IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating 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.

In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific 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.

On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.

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