World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Saturday the International Olympic Committee had made the "only decision left open to them" in suspending Russia's national Olympic body for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine's membership.
The IOC's move, made Thursday during an ongoing executive board meeting in Mumbai, came after the Russian Olympic Committee recognized regional organizations from four Ukrainian territories annexed since Russia's invasion began in 2022.
World Athletics, however, originally excluded competitors, coaches and officials from Russia and Belarus, a supporter of the invasion, from its events as early as March 2022.