MOSCOW, March 18. /TASS/. Executives at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) need to stop their "tricks" and keep sports free from politics, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"With the recent change of the [executive] team within the International Olympic Committee, I would hope they would stop their tricks and stop using international sports as a tool of political struggle," Putin stated.

According to him, sports should stand out as a beacon for people and the IOC should return to the principles outlined by the founder of the Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin.

"It should be done so that sports can unite the world, help to resolve conflicts and not to exacerbate these conflicts. Let us hope that this will be the case in the near future," he added.

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games took place in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6-22, 2026. Thirteen Russian athletes competed under a neutral status in figure skating, speed skating, short track, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, luge and ski mountaineering.

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.