IOC suspends Russian Olympic Committee with immediate effect as they violate Olympic charter

The International Olympic Council(IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee(ROC) on Thursday as they breached the Olympic charter by including regional sports organisations under the authority of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.

Mumbai:The Russian Olympic Committee(ROC) has suffered a blow as they are banned by the International Olympic Council's(IOC) Executive Board on Thursday as they breached the Olympic charter by incorporating sports bodies that are under the authority of Ukraine. The suspension came as a result of Russia including Olympic Councils from regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Apart from the suspension, Russia will be penalised in the form of not getting any funding from the IOC.

The 141st session of the IOC is scheduled to take place from October 15-17 in India while the executive board meeting is going on currently. Also, the decision around the inclusion of some more sports in the Olympics will be discussed in the meeting. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Russia was suspended after it decided to include regional sports organisations which are under the authority of the NOC of Ukraine.

"The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 to include, as its members, the regional sports organisations 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 recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter," the IOC spokesperson, Mark Adams said during a media conference on the eve of IOC session.

"The Russian Olympic Committee is suspended with immediate effect until further notice.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 further stated that the fate of the neutral Russian Athletes is not decided yet and the decision around their participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics as well as the Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will be taken "at the appropriate time".

Notably, this is not the first time the ROC has been punished by the IOC. They were banned from the Winter Olympics in 2017 due to multiple doping offences and were also ordered to pay USD 15 million. To add to Russia's worries, Ukraine has threatened to boycott the Paris Olympics, in case full ban on Russian and Belarussian Athletes is not upheld.