International Olympic Committee suspends Russia until further notice

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Thursday that it is suspending the Russian Olympic Committee until further notice.

According to the IOC’s statement, the decision is in response to Russia’s decision to include regional sports organizations from the occupied territories of Ukraine as its own members, which the IOC called a violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee.

“The Russian Olympic Committee is no longer entitled to operate as a National Olympic Committee, as defined in the Olympic Charter, and cannot receive any funding from the Olympic Movement,” reads the statement.

The agency noted that its earlier set of recommendations, which hold that individual athletes from Russia and Belarus can participate in Olympic competitions if they have no ties to Russian security forces and do not support the invasion of Ukraine, will remain in place.