The organisation made the announcement after considering the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from all international sporting events, in response to the countries invasion of Ukraine.

Following a meeting of the organisation’s Executive Committee today, FIAS said it believed that "sport was an instrument in ensuring peace and solidarity around the world" and the priority of FIAS was to protect the rights of athletes regardless of race, nationality, religion or gender.

The FIAS Executive Committee also confirmed that sambo competitions would not be held in either Russia or Belarus with immediate effect.

FIAS said that allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate in international competitions under its flag was "an additional measure to ensure peace and solidarity within the international sambo community."

Russian and Belarusian athletes are currently able to compete in International Gymnastics Federation and International Judo Federation competitions under the organisations' respective flags.

Among the sambo competitions set to be impacted by the decision to move events away from Russia and Belarus are the World Super Cup Memorial to the Sambo Founders, which was due to be held in Moscow later this month and the European Championships, which were set to take place in Yekaterinburg in May.