The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Tuesday that it would lift restrictions on Russian athletes to allow them to compete in team events and in qualifying competitions.
It all comes ahead of qualifying events for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and just two months after the IOC lifted restrictions for Russia's ally Belarus, whose athletes would be allowed to compete again without any restrictions and with their national symbols.
Russia's has been shut out of international sporting competitions since it launched an invasion in Ukraine that began the war in 2022.
The IOC suspended Russia's Olympic Committee in 2023, after Russia unilaterally recognized regional sports organizations in the four Ukrainian territories that Russia illegally annexed in 2022.
Russian athletes were still able to compete as neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games, but only if they are proven to not support the war and have no affiliation with Russia's military or security forces.IOC chief: Athletes 'should not pay the price' of war
