IOC lifts Russia suspension

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (NBC, KYMA) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Tuesday.

This marks a significant step towards Russia's reintegration into the Olympic fold ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 games.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the ROC was suspended in October 2023 for recognizing regional olympic councils in russian-occupied parts of Ukraine Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The IOC said its executive board had lifted that suspension but had not decided yet on whether Russia could display its flag, colors or have its anthem played at the games.

Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev said the IOC's decision should clear the way for Russian athletes to make a full return to the international sporting stage.

Russian athletes competed as neutrals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at the 2026 Milano Cortina winter games.

The IOC had said, in 2023, Russia recognizing regional Olympic councils in occupied parts of Ukraine violated the Olympic Charter and the territorial integrity of Ukraine's Olympic committee.

In addition to Russia being ostracized over its invasion of Ukraine, its athletes' return to competition comes against the backdrop of one of the most damaging doping scandals in Olympic history.

The country has been under scrutiny since a 2015 world anti-doping agency-commissioned report found evidence of systematic doping in Russian athletics, followed by findings that a state-sponsored cover-up operated around the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics.

Russia was barred from competing under its flag at several subsequent games, with many athletes admitted only as neutrals, and W.A.D.A. imposed a four-year ban in 2019 after Moscow was found to have manipulated laboratory data a sanction later cut to two years by the court of arbitration for sport.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied the existence of a state-backed doping program.