This year’s Winter Olympics, which officially kicked off on 6 February in Milan, features athletes from 92 different countries.
But two will be conspicuous by their absence: Russia and Belarus.
Both countries were suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2023 for violating the Olympic Charter, meaning they cannot compete at the Winter Olympics.
That ban remains in place but some individual athletes from those countries are allowed to participate in Milano-Cortina, albeit under a neutral flag.
Why are Russia and Belarus banned from the Winter Olympics?
In March 2022, the IOC recommended that international sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in their events, as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus has supported the invasion and acted as an ally throughout Russia’s war on its neighbour.
The invasion came after the Beijing Winter Olympics but before the Paralympics, with the International Paralympic Committee opting to ban both Russia and Belarus on the eve of the competition after several countries threatened to boycott the Games.
The IOC only officially suspended both countries in October 2023, after the Russian Olympic Committee took over sporting organisations in several regions where Russia had occupied significant territory in Ukraine (specifically Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia).
The IOC said that the takeover constituted “a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC [National Olympic Committee] of Ukraine”.
That formal suspension cut off the Russian Olympic Committee from all Olympic funding, and meant that no Russian or Belarusian athletes could represent their country at the next Olympic Games, in Paris in 2024.
What are AIN athletes?
Despite the ban, a small number of athletes were allowed to compete in Paris as ‘Individual Neutral Athletes’, known as ‘AIN’ for short (an abbreviation of the French “athlètes individuels neutres”.)
The AIN system will remain in place for Milano Cortina 2026. Athletes competing under that name will not be officially recognised as Russian or Belarusian, will not compete under their country’s flag, and will instead be represented by the same teal flag with an ‘AIN’ emblem as they did in Paris.
They will also not be able to use their country’s national anthem, with the IOC instead assigning them an instrumental anthem.
At the Paris Olympics last summer, Russian and Belarusian athletes were not allowed to take part in the Opening Ceremony and medals won by those athletes did not count towards the overall medal table.
Which AIN athletes are allowed to compete?
Individual Neutral Athletes are not permitted to compete in any team events, such as ice hockey or curling, as the IOC ruled that “a group of Individual Neutral Athletes cannot be considered a team”.
Athletes competing in an individual sport have to be approved by the governing body of their sport before being vetted by an IOC-appointed panel.
Those submitted for IOC vetting must not have any links to the Russian military or have expressed support for the war on Ukraine.
The most high-profile Russian athlete at the Beijing Games, teenage skater Kamila Valieva, returned from a four-year doping ban in late 2025 but did not make her comeback in time to attempt to qualify for this Olympics.
Which AIN athletes have qualified for the Winter Olympics?
13 Russian athletes and seven Belarusian athletes have accepted IOC invitations to compete in Milano Cortina. They are:
From Russia:
- Yulia Pleshkova – Alpine skiing
- Simon Efimov – Alpine skiing
- Savelii Korostelev – cross-country skiing
- Daria Nepriaeva – cross-country skiing
- Petr Gumennik – figure skating
- Adeliia Petrosian – figure skating
- Daria Olesik – luge
- Pavel Repilov – luge
- Ivan Posashkov – short-track
- Alena Krylova – short-track
- Nikita Filippov – ski mountaineering
- Kseniia Korzhova – speed skating
- Anastasiia Semenova – speed skating
From Belarus:
- Marina Zueva – speed skating
- Hanna Karaliova – cross-country skiing
- Viktoriya Safonova – figure skating
- Maria Shkanova – Alpine skiing
- Anastasiya Andryianava – freestyle skiing
- Anna Derugo – freestyle skiing
- Hanna Huskova – freestyle skiing
