MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. The International Skating Union (ISU) has granted approval to applications of Russian figure skaters Adelia Petrosyan, Alina Gorbacheva, Pyotr Gummenik and Vladislav Dikidzhi for their participation in the Olympic qualifying tournaments, the ISU’s press office said in a statement on Tuesday. "Following the decisions of the ISU Council, the International Skating Union (ISU) has today published the list of Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs) who have passed a special screening process, marking the first step toward their potential eligibility for participation in the ISU Olympic Qualification skating events leading up to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026," the statement reads. "These nominated AINs subsequently underwent a special screening process conducted by an ISU panel, in line with IOC guidelines and with the support of an experienced independent external provider… While nominations were submitted for all the disciplines and distances open to AIN participation, not all nominated athletes passed the rigorous screening," the statement added. On December 20, 2024, the ISU Council announced a decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus competing at the 2026 Olympics qualifying tournament under a neutral status. The Figure Skating Federation of Russia (FSFR) was told that it could not put more than one entrant on its list of candidates for each figure skating discipline, most notably the men's and women's individual events, as well as the pairs and ice dancing events. The figure skating qualifying tournaments for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Beijing on September 17-21. The Russian athletes will be participating neutrally only in men and women’s individual events as the ISU’s list contained no names of Russian figure skaters competing in pairs and ice dance. Commenting on today’s statement from the ISU, FSFR President Anton Sikharulidze told TASS that Petrosyan and Gumennik will be Russia’s main athletes competing at the 2026 Olympics qualifiers in China, while Gorbacheva and Dikidzhi will be their substitutes. "Eventually, a woman and a man will be participating in the qualifiers, numbers one are Adelia Petrosyan and Pyotr Gumennik," Sikharulidze said. The deadline for the FSFR to submit its list of figure skating candidates for the Olympic qualifiers was February 28. In order to be cleared for the Olympic qualifiers the ISU inquired into athletes’ possible affiliation with Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and their possible connections with military and security bodies. The 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. The event will take place from February 6-22, 2026. ISU, IOC sanctions against Russia On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason. Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments. On March 1, 2022, the International Skating Union (ISU) announced a decision to provisionally suspend all athletes from Russia and Belarus. The suspension included figure skating, speed skating and short-track speed skating competitions. In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events. On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.