The International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday that it is temporarily lifting a suspension on the Russian Olympic Committee, removing restrictions on Russian nationals to compete in the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

“We wanted to ensure all athletes have the possibility to compete at the Olympic Games and not be held responsible for their governments’ actions, and I believe that this is what this decision speaks to,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry told reporters Tuesday. “It allows for Russian athletes to take part in sport competitions, but we’ve also been very clear that we don’t condone any violence and war around the world.”

The suspension has been in effect since October 2023 after the ROC included regional sports councils from occupied areas of Ukraine as members. The IOC said at the time that the move “violates the territorial integrity” of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee and therefore breached the IOC charter.

Russia has had a historically strong showing in the Olympics, but it has been plagued by controversies in the past decade. Scores of Russian athletes had their medals stripped and their participation disqualified from the 2014 Sochi Olympics after revelations of state-sponsored doping, and the Kremlin’s war with Ukraine further eroded Russia’s standing in the international sporting community.

After the 2023 IOC ban, a few dozen Russian nationals were allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics if they were deemed neutral athletes who did not support the war with Ukraine.

The IOC has not decided whether to allow Russia to fly its flag at the Los Angeles games. Coventry said the IOC will continue not to host events in Russia or invite government or state officials to its events.

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