After a decade as a pariah in international sports, the onetime powerhouse Russia may be coming back in from the cold.
Russia has faced a series of sanctions and suspensions from the Olympics first because of a state-sanctioned doping program and then because of its invasion of Ukraine. But at a two-day meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Milan this week before the Winter Games got underway, committee members sounded ready to welcome Russia back into mainstream competition.
Kirsty Coventry, the I.O.C. president, did not mention Russia by name in her address to delegates in Milan, but she emphasized, “We are a sports organization.