IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee

GENEVA, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) announced Thursday to suspend the Russian Olympic Committee with immediate effect.

In an IOC statement after the first day of the EB meeting in Mumbai, India, the IOC EB said, "The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 to include, as its members, the regional sports organizations which are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia) constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter."

"The IOC Executive Board today decided that the Russian Olympic Committee is suspended with immediate effect until further notice," it read.

According to the statement, 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. The IOC reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 at the appropriate time, the IOC announced.