There has been an unexpected turn in the history of the struggle of domestic sports for a full return to world sports. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), declaring that the participation of athletes in international competitions “cannot be limited due to the actions of their governments,” lifted all sanctions against representatives of Belarus imposed after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, while maintaining “isolation” recommendations against Russians. The IOC made it clear that their “reintegration” depends on how quickly the legal commission of the parent structure deals with the issue of restoring the status of the Russian Olympic Committee, as well as the results of a fresh investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency. It is connected with accusations against the head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, Veronika Loginova, of concealing the results of doping tests taken at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee issued a statement on May 7 that looks very similar to its decisive reversal of the strategy it pursued under former President Thomas Bach (the position he vacated was filled by Kirsty Coventry in 2025). The statement essentially declares the cancellation of the main provisions of the recommendations issued by the IOC after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine against Russian and Belarusian athletes. They have been softened several times, but their essence has still remained unchanged since March 2023. It consisted in the admission of representatives of Russia and Belarus to international competitions exclusively in a neutral status, without a flag and anthem and with a number of other restrictions. Most sports federations strictly followed the recommendations.
The new IOC document explicitly states that the performance of athletes in international competitions “cannot be limited by the actions of their governments” and, therefore, previous recommendations should be canceled.
However, the cancellation, as it turned out, concerns only one of the two countries concerned – Belarus. Its athletes will now, if the IOC theses are accepted by the federations, be able to compete in all tournaments with the flag and anthem.
Meanwhile, recommendations regarding Russian athletes will continue to apply.
The IOC tried to explain this paradox by referring to the “difference” in the position of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the two countries. Pointing out that the NOC of Belarus is “in good condition and complies with the Olympic Charter,” he recalled that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) remains in a temporarily suspended status. Such a sanction was applied to him in October 2023. Its official reason was the inclusion in the Russian Olympic Committee of the Olympic Councils of the DPR and LPR, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which were part of the Russian Federation.
The former leadership of the ROC, led by President Stanislav Pozdnyakov, was not too surprised by the punishment. The fact is that at that time the Russian sports establishment was dominated by the point of view about the inexpediency and even unpatriotic and hypocritical attempts to return to world sports at any cost. It assessed the harsh sanction as “fixing the situation of a complete severance of all ties.” However, after the sports industry was headed by Mikhail Degtyarev in 2024, who eventually combined the positions of the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation and the head of the ROC, the approach radically changed to the exact opposite.
Mr. Degtyarev initiated the process of “reintegration” of Russia into the world sports community, which has already resulted in quite noticeable successes. Many federations have become much more loyal to Russian athletes, and several federations, without waiting for IOC recommendations, on their own initiative abandoned sanctions.
One of the largest water sports federations (World Aquatics) allowed the Russians to compete with the flag and anthem along with those responsible for judo and taekwondo. And the IOC itself seemed to have taken an important step towards Russia by lifting restrictions on its athletes in junior age categories at the end of last year.
Mikhail Degtyarev always considered the restoration of the OCD status as a key event for completing “reintegration”. And soon after his election as head of the structure, what seemed to be the most obvious obstacle on this path was removed. The ROC adjusted its charter, expunging all 89 regional Olympic councils, including the councils of new territories. However, in its statement, the IOC, pointing to a “constructive exchange of views” with the ROC, noted that the latter “remains disqualified” while the legal commission of the international structure “continues to study the issue,” without specifying how long the study will last.
There is also, perhaps, an even more important remark in the document. The IOC noted that its executive committee is “concerned” about “recent information” that has resulted in an investigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) into the “Russian anti-doping system.” It is clear what kind of investigation we are talking about. The fact that it was launched became known back in April. The investigation concerns the activities of the head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), Veronica Loginova, and was provoked primarily by information previously published by The New York Times. It alleged that Ms Loginova “was directly involved” in “attempts to conceal” the results of doping tests at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Veronika Loginova herself rejected the accusations, calling them “fantasies based on the desire to promote fried facts” and assuring that she “had nothing to do with samples and data related to the Olympic Games.”
It was not difficult to guess that Mikhail Degtyarev’s reaction to the controversial decisions and theses of the IOC would be just as ambiguous. Mr. Degtyarev said that the Russian side “welcomes” the decision to lift sanctions “against the union republic” and expects that it “will be a prologue to a similar decision on the Russian Olympic movement.”
However, then the rhetoric changes. “At the same time, we are disappointed that the IOC legal commission was unable to reach a verdict on the case of the Russian Olympic Committee and once again postponed it. Let me remind you that the ROC has long provided the IOC with a comprehensive package of documents indicating that all legal grounds for a further ban of the ROC have been eliminated. Our lawyers sent a request to the IOC regarding the status of these materials. We will make a decision on further steps depending on the IOC’s comment. Linking the decision to restore OCD to any irrelevant issues is unacceptable. The restoration process has clearly taken a long time, and we see no reason for this. Especially taking into account the positive dynamics in the admission to international competitions of Russian juniors in more than 20 sports, as well as swimmers, judokas, kickboxers, sambo and MMA wrestlers, as well as a number of other sports in all age categories under the flag and with the anthem. Since the beginning of 2026, the Russian flag has flown more than 80 times at world and European championships, cups and championships. The Ministry of Sports and the ROC will continue vigorous diplomatic and legal work to fully restore the rights of all Russian athletes,” Mr. Degtyarev said in a statement.
Sports manager Andrei Mitkov is also inclined to an extremely restrained interpretation of what happened. In his opinion, “it is useless to look for logic and facts in the IOC statement, just as it is useless to try to understand what this political game will lead to.” At the same time, the expert drew attention to the fact that, “as under Bach, saying that everything is generally good,” the flagship sports structure still finds reasons for “nitpicking” with the Russian side, often “strange”: “This applies, for example, to the story with Veronica Loginova, whose appointment to RUSADA was actually approved by WADA.”
