Nine EU countries urge cutting Olympic funding over Russia's reinstatement

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Sports ministers from nine countries are urging EU Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef to cut EU funding to the International Olympic Committee over its decision last week to lift the ban on the Russian Olympic Committee.

The IOC imposed broad restrictions on Russian athletes after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But in recent months, Russian athletes have been welcomed back to several international sporting competitions, prompting backlash from Ukraine and its allies.

In a letter published Tuesday by Sweden’s permanent representation to the EU, the ministers urged Micallef to “ensure that organisations whose actions are inconsistent with the values of the European Union do not benefit from EU support.”

Last week, the IOC provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee, which had been in place since October 2023, despite Russia’s continued unwillingness to make peace with Ukraine.

“Nothing has changed on the ground. Russia is still waging its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” said Swedish Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed. “EU funding programmes and cooperation frameworks cannot therefore be designed in a way that risks normalising Russia’s aggression.”

Ministers from Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Finland and Denmark signed the open letter.

The IOC said it lifted the suspension because the Russian Olympic Committee no longer includes regional sports organizations — and therefore athletes — from occupied Ukrainian territories. But Tuesday’s statement argued that the war still prevents Ukrainian athletes from training for international competition on equal terms and that restrictions on Russian athletes should therefore remain.

“Any assertions that sport can be separated from politics ring hollow,” the statement reads.

The letter also calls for withdrawing EU funding from World Aquatics and the International Gymnastics Federation, both of which have lifted their bans on Russian athletes.