Ukraine's National Olympic Committee (NOC) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to provisionally reinstate Russia to its competitions.
The IOC had suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in 2023 due to the war in Ukraine, but lifted the ban on 7 July 2026, stating it was "no longer applicable". This decision could allow Russian athletes to compete for their country at the 2028 Olympic Games.
The Ukrainian NOC contends that the IOC's decision is "premature" and "violates" the Olympic Charter. They argue that the decision was made without proper verification that the violations, which led to the ROC's suspension in October 2023, have been resolved. The NOC of Ukraine also highlighted that CAS confirmed the legality of the ROC's suspension in 2024, recognising that including sports organisations from temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories violates Ukraine's territorial integrity and the Olympic Charter.
Russian and Belarusian athletes competed as neutrals at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. While the IOC recommended in December 2025 that federations readmit Russian and Belarusian Under-23 athletes, other bodies like World Athletics rejected a recommendation to lift the ban on Belarusian athletes and teams in May.