The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday it is provisionally lifting the suspension of Russia’s Olympic teams, clearing the way for their participation in the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. The decision comes more than two years after Russia was barred from competing under its flag following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, the IOC said its legal affairs commission found that the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) no longer includes regional sports organizations based in Ukrainian territory. This change, the IOC argued, warranted a provisional reinstatement. However, the committee has not yet decided whether Russian teams can fly their national flag or play their anthem at the 2028 Games, and it will not organize Olympic events in Russia or invite Russian officials to its events.
The move reverses a ban imposed in October 2023, which had forced Russian athletes to compete as individual neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Summer Games and the 2025 Milan-Cortina Winter Games. The IOC emphasized that the decision does not signal a shift in its stance on the war. “The IOC condemns wars, armed conflicts and violence that cause human suffering,” the statement read, reaffirming solidarity with Ukraine’s Olympic community through a support fund.
Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee swiftly condemned the decision as “premature, unjustified, and adopted without due regard to the objective circumstances” of the conflict, now approaching its 54th month. The criticism was underscored by a Russian missile and drone attack on Kyiv less than 48 hours before the IOC’s announcement, which killed 11 people and injured 64, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Any decision that effectively paves the way for Russia’s full return to the international Olympic Movement contradicts not only the principles of justice but also the fundamental values of Olympism,” the Ukrainian committee said in a statement. It added that it has repeatedly submitted evidence to the IOC showing the ROC continues to violate Ukrainian territorial integrity.
The IOC’s reinstatement is separate from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s suspension of Russia, which has been in place since 2019 due to a state-sponsored doping program. Under that policy, Russian athletes competed under the neutral ROC banner at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, where they won a combined 103 medals.
The 2028 Los Angeles Games will mark the first U.S.-hosted Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996 and the third time Los Angeles has served as host. The decision to lift Russia’s suspension sets the stage for a politically charged return to the international stage, even as the war in Ukraine continues to claim lives.
Earlier this year, the IOC disqualified Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for wearing a helmet honoring athletes and coaches killed by Russian strikes—a move that highlighted the ongoing tensions between the Olympic body and Ukrainian athletes. The IOC’s latest decision is likely to deepen that rift, with Ukraine vowing to challenge the reinstatement.
