Russian-born athletes who changed nationality and now compete for countries such as Poland are to be banned from reentering their homeland, stripped of their titles or even face prosecution, Russia’s sports minister has warned.
The threat comes after 13 athletes decided to compete at the Olympic Games in Italy as ‘Individual Neutral Athletes’, without a flag or anthem, and after a string of Russian athletes switched national loyalties following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine
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These include Yekaterinburg-born speed skater Vladimir Semirunniy, who has already won a silver medal in the 10,000m after becoming Polish, and Moscow-born figure skater Ekaterina Kurakova who also decided to represent Poland.
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In March, Semirunniy told Polish daily Fakt: “I’d like to go away for at least a week to visit my family, but I’d rather not take the risk. I saw my mother in Italy. For now, we’re just talking on the phone.”
Speaking to Russia’s state-owned Channel One last week, sports minister Mikhail Degtyarev said: “We want to deprive them of everything, ban them from coming to the country and using our sports facilities. We will get to that.”
“Regulations have been introduced now, I signed an order to that effect, and one chess player was even stripped of his grandmaster title for changing his sporting citizenship.”
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“We feed them here, educate them, provide them with coaches, and facilities—and then he drops his passport and leaves.”
Easing restrictions
Russian athletes were first barred from competing under their national flag in 2014 following a doping scandal at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many sports federations excluded them entirely.
In Italy, Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to compete only as neutrals after a vetting process to ensure they had not publicly supported the war and had no links to the military or security services. Russian teams, including the men’s ice hockey squad, remain banned.
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In December 2025, the International Olympic Committee’s executive board recommended easing restrictions for youth athletes from Russia and Belarus, including allowing national symbols in certain youth events if national federations are in good standing.
On February 14, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said about 70 international sports federations had authorized Russian athletes to return to competition.
She added that Moscow hopes the Russian Olympic Committee, suspended in 2023 after it incorporated sports bodies from occupied Ukrainian territories, will also be reinstated.
Ukrainian athletes continue to oppose Russia’s return to international sport, arguing that competitors should not be able to represent an aggressor state.