As IOC reopens door to Russia, 9 EU countries back cutting funding to sports bodies
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A group of nine European countries urged the European Commission to halt funding programs for international sports organizations allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, according to a letter published on July 14.
The step follows the International Olympic Committee (IOC) 's provisional lifting of its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee on July 7, paving the way for the return of Russian athletes to international competitions.
The call to bar the IOC and other sports bodies — including the International Fencing Federation (FIE) and World Aquatics — from EU funding programs was backed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.
In a letter to Glenn Micallef, the EU's commissioner for youth, culture, and sport, the signatories stressed that Ukrainian athletes have been directly affected by the Russian invasion, with many displaced or joining the Ukrainian army to defend their country.
"In this context, any assertions that sport can be separated from politics ring hollow when thousands of innocent Ukrainians have lost their lives and when sport continues to be instrumentalized by the Russian and Belarusian regimes," the letter reads.
The nine EU countries urged the European Commission to consider cutting funding for these organizations under the Erasmus+ program and other initiatives, and to ensure they do not play a prominent role in EU-backed sports forums and platforms.
"It is regrettable that such measures should need to be considered," the letter reads.
"However, where these organizations choose not to uphold the values that the European Union seeks to promote and defend, access to EU funding and related benefits should remain suspended until they demonstrate a renewed commitment to those principles."
The IOC's decision to lift the ban on Russia — imposed in 2022 in the wake of Moscow's full-scale invasion — was broadly denounced in Ukraine and across the EU.
"As long as sports in Russia remain an instrument of state propaganda and support for the war, international sports organizations should not weaken, but maintain the policy of isolating those who promote aggression," Ukraine's sanctions chief, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, previously told the Kyiv Independent.
