Russia and Belarus are allowed to participate in the preliminary round of the Winter Olympics.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine, and Belarusian athletes who helped will be allowed to compete in the preliminary round of the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics.

The International Skating Union (ISU) announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete in the Olympic qualifiers for short track, speed, and figure skating as individual neutral athletes.

Only one player is allocated for each individual event, and only one group of figure skating pairs and ice dancing can participate.

Individual neutral athletes are strictly prohibited from revealing their country of origin, and investigations into whether they supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine are also conducted in advance.