FIS lifts special controls: Russians and Belarusians to return to ski tournaments in the 2026/27 season

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) has officially lifted the special restrictions on athletes from Russia and Belarus. As reported by Sport RBC.UA, citing the federation's official website, at the FIS Council meeting in Thun, Switzerland, the officials fully revised the requirements for athletes from these countries and permitted their return to international tournaments as early as the 2026/27 season.

The Council's decision in Thun

Previously, admission to competitions was possible only for individual athletes and only after a thorough review of their personal stance on the war. Under the new rules, these individual checks have been abolished: Russians and Belarusians have been granted the right to compete in neutral status across all key disciplines under the FIS umbrella. The sole formal condition for participation has become signing a declaration of neutrality.

From individual review to a unified format

Thus, the federation has effectively unified the admission procedure: instead of a case-by-case review of each athlete's position, a single formal criterion has been introduced. This means that the national teams of Russia and Belarus will be able to enter athletes for the World Cup and other FIS competitions without an additional administrative filter, limited to the standard procedure of signing a document on neutral status.

The role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport

The Council's decision was the outcome of prolonged pressure from athletes and their representatives. As early as December 2025, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ordered FIS to admit representatives from Russia, even though the federation's council had systematically voted to extend the ban list. In effect, the arbitral ruling created a precedent that the federation has now implemented through the revision of the regulations at the meeting in Thun.

Not all winter sports have followed this path

It is important to emphasize that the FIS decision is not universal for all of winter sports. The International Biathlon Union (IBU), for example, has maintained the full suspension of Russia and Belarus, adopted at the outset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Similarly, according to available data, FIDE did not admit the Russian teams to the 2026 Chess Olympiad. Thus, the admission of athletes from Russia and Belarus remains a matter decided by each federation independently.

Contradictory data

There is a nuance in how different outlets have presented the material. The official FIS position, cited by Sport RBC.UA, emphasizes the lifting of restrictions and points to the declaration of neutrality as the sole formal requirement. At the same time, a number of Russian sources describe the same decision as the introduction of "additional conditions" for the admission of Russian skiers. In substance, these formulations do not contradict each other — the declaration of neutrality is precisely that condition — however, the emphasis in the headlines differs: one source highlights liberalization, the other — the retention of a formal requirement. Readers should take both presentations into account when assessing the scale of the changes.