World Athletics will not ease its restrictions on Russia and Belarus after the governing body’s council concluded this week that sanctions stemming from the 2022 invasion of Ukraine were warranted.
In the 241st World Athletics Council Meeting this week, which was held via video conference, Russia and Belarus were discussed as restrictions that were imposed in March 2022, which were revisited in 2023 and 2025 — again in March 2026 — with a decision to keep the ban in place.
“The Council and the Working Group on the status of Russians/Belarusians in International Competitions and Events have been consequential and methodical in reviewing the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus and in identifying a conditional pathway back into international competition.” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said. “We presented options for the Council to consider on this matter, however, the original decision remains on the sanctions that protect the integrity and fairness of our competitions, with no tangible movement towards peace negotiations having materialized.”
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 with some parts of the military action launched from Belarus.
A wave of sanctions have been placed on Russia and Belarus since 2022, including bans from the Olympics and other international competition.
World Athletics has repeatedly affirmed its stance on whether either nation should have the same privileges as member nations in good standing.
The initial 2022 ban came just weeks after the invasion and deployed for the “foreseeable future, with immediate effect,” while a 2023 action further crippled Russia’s ability to participate within the governing body.
A council decision in 2025 deemed that a working group on Russia and Belarus believed that existing sanctions were “adequate and do not need to be replaced.”
But in an interview last February during his candidacy for International Olympic Committee president, Coe said he was open to allowing Russia back into the Olympics.
“It’s not for me to design peace treaties,” Coe said during the interview. “All wars end with a table, a map and people. Depends where the table is, who’s sitting around it and what does the map look like.”
Kirsty Coventry would ultimately be elected as IOC president, a move that Russian president Vladimir Putin has recently viewed as a possible path toward reinstatement after a rocky relationship with Thomas Bach’s administration.
“The shameful, I would say cowardly, politically motivated behavior of the previous leadership of the International Olympic Committee has caused enormous damage to the Olympic movement and to the very principles of Olympism,” Putin said in April. “I hope that the new leadership of the International Olympic Committee and international sports federations will overcome this legacy as soon as possible, which is difficult and, as I have already said, the shameful legacy of their predecessors.”
Bach stepped down as IOC president last June after 12 years in office and handed down the penalties that date back to October 2023.
In December 2023, Olympic Movement permitted Russian and Belarusian to compete in the 2024 Paris Games with only individual athletes and team sports were excluded. Just 15 athletes from Russia and 17 from Belarus participated and none were permitted to compete under recognition of any flags, emblems shown or any anthems played if medals were won.
At the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games only 13 Russian athletes and seven Belarusians were present.
However, in May the IOC proposed lifting sanctions on Belarus in a move to ensure the nations athletes would be “free from political interference or governmental pressure.”
“As the IOC continues to navigate the ever-increasingly complex realities and consequences of the current geopolitical context, including the rising number of wars and conflicts, and amidst growing global instability, it must uphold its mission to preserve a values-based and truly global sporting platform that provides hope to the world,” the IOC said a statement.
