The Russian Olympic Committee was suspended by the International Olympic Committee today for breaching the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports bodies in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
Last week, Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute by including the sports councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members.
“(This) unilateral decision,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement, “constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
The provocation in sports politics finally pushed the IOC to suspend the Russian Olympic body, a move which it has resisted during the near 20 months since the country invaded Ukraine.