The International Olympic Committee (IOC) took the decision, Thursday, October 12, to suspend the Russian National Olympic Committee (NOC), “with immediate effect,” for having placed under its authority four organizations from occupied Ukrainian regions, the IOC announced in a press release.

This decision automatically deprives the Russian body of Olympic funding, but has no consequences on the possible presence of Russian athletes under a neutral banner at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, which will be decided by the IOC “at the appropriate time” , announced a spokesperson to Agence France-Presse.

The Russian Olympic Committee denounces the “political” nature of this decision.

“Territorial integrity”

For the international Olympic organization, which has shaken up its agenda – it has given up examining the sports program for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles – it is a question of sanctioning the “violation” by the Russians of “integrity territorial” of Ukraine, therefore of the Olympic Charter, explained Mark Adams.

On October 5, the Russian NOC “unilaterally” included among its members the regional sports organizations of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, located in eastern Ukraine occupied by the Russian army.

Since the end of February 2022, the IOC has already sanctioned the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, which it considers to be a violation of the Olympic truce linked to the 2022 Olympic Games, which took place in Beijing, by recommending that international federations to ban their competitions from Russian soil and to ban any official Russian symbol (anthem or flag).

On the other hand, his position has varied on the participation of Russian athletes, as well as athletes from Belarus, a country allied to Moscow, in the same international competitions: after having recommended their exclusion, last March he began their reintegration into world sport, under a neutral banner, in individual events, and as long as they have not “actively supported the war in Ukraine”.

The question of their participation in Paris 2024 as well as the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, however, remains unresolved: the IOC will decide later and on a date that suits it, Mark Adams recalled on Thursday.