IOC defends Russian Olympic Committee reinstatement after EU countries call for funding cuts

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) defended its decision to provisionally lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) after nine European Union member states called on Brussels to stop funding sports bodies that have re-admitted Russian and Belarusian athletes.

In a letter to European sports commissioner Glenn Micallef, the countries urged the European Union to stop funding sporting bodies, including the IOC, World Aquatics and the International Fencing Federation, that...