PARIS: Russian teams, including the country’s powerful national ice hockey side, remain banned from competing at next year’s Milano-Cortina winter Olympics as part of sanctions imposed following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday.

The IOC was responding to reports out of Russia that hockey officials from the country had held talks with the international ice hockey federation (IIHF) over Olympic participation.

“The IOC Executive Board recommendation from March 2023 with regard to teams of athletes with a Russian passport remains in place,” the IOC said.

“It is based on the fact that, by definition, a group of Individual Neutral Athletes cannot be considered a team. We take note that the IIHF has confirmed that it will follow this recommendation.

A small number of individual Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part in the Paris 2024 summer Olympics after rigorous vetting by the IOC.

They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag and anthem. Instead they took part as neutral athletes. All Russian teams were banned. Belarus has acted as a staging ground for the invasion.

Four Russian figure skaters in men’s and women’s singles were recently approved by the International Skating Union to try to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics as neutral athletes.

Russian ice hockey players won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and silver four years later in Beijing.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 for recognising regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

“This [October 2023] recommendation was made after consultations with the International Federations concerned and the other Olympic Movement stakeholders,” the IOC said.

“This position reflects the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee because of its annexation of regional sports organisations on the territory of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

“Such action constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognised by the IOC in accordance with the Olympic Charter,” the Olympic body said.

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

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2025