MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. The International Ski and Snowboard federation (FIS) has not yet considered a possibility of the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes back to international tournaments, the FIS press office said in a statement to TASS on Monday. IOC President Thomas Bach announced last week that international sports federations should study an option to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in the qualifying tournaments for the upcoming Olympic Games. "For FIS, the situation is clear and has remained unchanged: any decision regarding the participation of neutral athletes in FIS events is a prerogative of the FIS Council, which has been constantly reviewing and discussing the matter," the statement reads. "At the moment, there is no set timetable for any definition in this regard," the FIS added in its statement. 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. On October 25, 2023, FIS executive manager Erik Roeste said in an interview with Norwegian television channel NRK that sanctions against Russian athletes must be upheld for the 2023/2024 season, despite the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) recommendations to allow them to participate in international competitions only as neutral athletes and under a number of conditions. On December 20, 2024, the International Skating Union (ISU) Council announced a decision to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus competing at the 2026 Olympics qualifying tournament under a neutral status. IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part 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. In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain 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.