IOC President Kirsty Coventry attends a final press conference with Executive Board members after visiting Olympic and Paralympic Village and various venues in Milan, Italy, Sept. 19, 2025. Antonio Calanni/AP

Athletes from Russia will be allowed to participate at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Games under a neutral flag, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday.

The decision by the IOC after a meeting in Milan on Friday was expected and maintains the same sanctions as the Summer Games in Paris last year.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 after sanctions were imposed due to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying it violated the Olympic Charter.

"We also spoke about the Independent Neutral Athletes (AINs). This will be nothing new," IOC President Kirsty Coventry said at a press conference, according to Reuters. "The Executive board will take the exact same approach that was done in Paris (2024 Olympics). Nothing has changed."

Previously, Russian athletes were permitted to compete under the Russian Olympic Committee, or "ROC," which last made its appearance during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They were allowed to compete under the "ROC" after a series of scandals curtailed their access to the Games, but that was changed for the Paris Games.

Last summer, Russian athletes could only take part under a neutral flag and individual events. They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag and anthem. Instead, they took part as neutral athletes.

Belarusian athletes faced the same sanctions because Belarus has acted as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian and Belarusian athletes who reach qualifying times will be first vetted for any links to the Russian military or support for the more than three-year war in Ukraine, both of which will exclude them, the IOC said.

Why is Russia banned from the Olympics?
Olympic athletes from Russia have faced a series of scandals and challenges in recent years.

The scandal of Russian athletes taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs burst into public view in 2015 after a series of leaks and investigations. In November 2015, the entire Russian track and field team was suspended after the World Anti-Doping Agency found what it called a "culture of cheating."

A 2016 report identified more than 1,000 individuals linked to a Russian state-sponsored doping scheme between 2011 and 2014. Russia was banned in 2017 because of the scheme but the IOC gave individual athletes the chance to apply for admission to compete as "Olympic Athletes from Russia." Only 168 Russian athletes passed the vetting process to participate in the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, under a neutral Olympic flag. This was the second time Russian athletes had participated under the neutral flag after being in the Unified Team of 1992.

In 2019, the World Anti-Doping Agency voted to ban Russia from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games over manipulated doping data. Russian athletes were allowed to compete at the Olympics but only if they could demonstrate that they were not part of the scandal.

In 2023, nearly 20 months into its war with Ukraine, the IOC suspended Russia with immediate effect for violating the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports councils in four regions in eastern Ukraine. The limited presence of Russians and Belarusians at the 2025 Paris Games satisfied the Olympic body by bringing together athletes from around the world while avoiding a boycott by Ukraine and its closest allies.

Russian teams remain banned. The size of the neutral delegation now depends on the international sports federations, which are responsible for the qualification process and some of which continue to ban Russians and Belarusians from their competitions.

The 2027 Winter Olympics in Italy run from Feb. 6-22.

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