International Judo Federation drops ban on Russian athletes competing under their national flag

The International Judo Federation has decided to allow Russian athletes to compete under their national flag again in its competitions starting this weekend, the IJF said Thursday, despite the ongoing war in Ukraine that, for years, had forced them to take part under a neutral banner.

The IJF executive committee voted to “reinstate full national representation” of Russian athletes, with their anthem and symbols, beginning with the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, taking part from Nov. 28 – 30.

“Athletes have no responsibility for the decisions of governments or other national institutions, and it is our duty to protect the sport and our athletes,” the IJF said in a statement.

Contacted by CBS News, the IJF declined to offer any further explanation for the reversal in policy.

Following President Vladimir Putin’s orders to launch the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 — escalating the war he refers to as only a “special military operation” — many Russian athletes have been banned from entering competitions in various sports, or barred from competing under the Russian flag. 

The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended since 2023 by the International Olympic Committee for breaking the Olympic charter by using an administrative land grab to incorporate regional sports bodies in occupied eastern Ukraine.

Russians will be allowed to compete at next year’s Milan-Cortina Winter Games, but the IOC will maintain the system it used at the 2024 Paris Games, permitting them to compete only as individual, neutral athletes, not for Team Russia.

Sergey Soloveychik, president of the Russian judo federation, praised what he called an “historic decision.”

“Thanks to the IJF for this long-awaited, fair and courageous decision,” he said in a statement.

The IJF said it had previously reinstated full national representation for Belarusian athletes. Belarus has allowed Moscow to use its territory as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine, and later allowed the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear missiles on its soil.

The IJF said it now considers it “appropriate to allow the participation of Russian athletes under equal conditions,” emphasizing that the sport “cannot allow itself to become a platform for geopolitical agendas.”

“Historically, Russia has been a leading nation in world judo, and their full return is expected to enrich competition at all levels while upholding the IJF’s principles of fairness, inclusivity and respect,” the federation said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a keen judoka and attended events in the sport at the 2012 London Olympics.

Soon after Russia launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, however, the IJC stripped the Russian leader of his most senior title in world sports.

The IJF cited “the ongoing war conflict in Ukraine” in suspending Putin’s honorary president status in the federation, and Soloveychik, who at the time was president of the European Judo Union, resigned from his post.