MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. The International Skating Union (ISU) has ruled to grant a neutral status to Russian figure skaters Kamila Valieva and Alexandra Ignatova (Trusova before marriage) to participate internationally, the ISU’s press service reported.

TASS reported earlier that the ISU had cleared Russian athletes to participate internationally in the organization’s supervised tournaments under a neutral status starting with the 2026/27 season.

Neutral statuses were also granted by the ISU to Russian figure skaters Petr Gumennik, Vladislav Dikidzhi, Maria, Zakharova, Dina Khusnutdinova, Alexaxandra Boikova and Dmitry Kozlovsky, Varvara Slutskaya and Gleb Goncharov, Anna Shcherbakova and Yegor Goncharov, Yelizaveta Pasechnik and Dario Chirizano, Irina Khavronina and David Naryzhny, Anastasia Mukhortova and Dmitry Yevgenyev, Anna Kolomenskaya and Artyom Frolov, Yekaterina Chikmareva and Matvey Yanchenkov.

Valieva is 20 years old and she previously decided to resume her career after completing a four-year suspension handed for anti-doping rule violations. The figure skater was allowed to officially start training on October 25, 2025.

Ignatova, 22, is the 2022 Olympic Games silver medalist, a bronze medalist of the 2021 World Championships as well as the silver and bronze medalist of the European Championships.

In March 2022, the ISU suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from all international tournaments supervised by the organization due to the developments in Ukraine.

At the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the ISU allowed six Russian athletes to participate under a neutral status - figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan and Petr Gumennik, speed skaters Ksenia Korzhova and Anastasia Semyonova, short track speed skaters Alyona Krylova and Ivan Posashkov.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced a decision on July 7 to provisionally lift an earlier-imposed suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and also recommended lifting restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes in all international tournaments.

IOC previously-imposed 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.