Explore the latest developments concerning Is Russia competing.
The Russian Olympic Committee competed in Beijing, but has not been permitted to since. (Getty Images: picture alliance/Robert Michael)
Another Olympic Games. Another festival of sport without Russia or Belarus.
As was the case in Paris two years ago, there will be no sign of the Russian or Belarusian flag, name or colours at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
But there will be a handful of athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports competing in northern Italy.
Russia was banned from the Olympics in October 2023, 20 months after the invasion of Ukraine that took place in the days after the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Savelii Korostelev, Kseniia Korzhova and Petr Gumennik are set to compete as neutral athletes at the Milan-Cortina Games
Several Russian athletes approved to compete as neutrals at the Winter Olympics have links to activity supporting the war in Ukraine, according to evidence seen by BBC Sport.
The International Olympic Committee has cleared 13 competitors, external from Russia to participate as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) in Milan-Cortina.
Their eligibility was assessed by a three-person IOC panel, external, with athletes deemed ineligible if they were found to have actively supported the war, including through social media activity or participation in pro-war events.
However, material shared with the BBC by the Molfar Intelligence Institute, external and investigative journalist Artem Khudolieiev raises questions over whether some of those approved meet the IOC's broadly-framed criteria.
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As the 2026 Winter Olympic Games kick off with the opening ceremony, at least a dozen athletes will represent AIN.
The three-letter acronym isn't an abbreviation of a country delegation — its athletes are tied to Russia, whose nation's flag will not be present following a series of doping scandals and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.
AIN athletes will also include competitors from Belarus, which was banned as a country in Paris 2024 over its involvement in the war.
AIN is an acronym of the French term "Athlètes Individuels Neutres," meaning "Individual Neutral Athletes." French is one of the two official languages of the Olympic Games, along with English.
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