Last week, the IOC temporarily raised his 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. Russia is still waging its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Swedish Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed said. “The EU’s funding programs and cooperation frameworks cannot be designed in a way that risks Russian 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 of the Russian Olympic Committee no longer including regional sports organizations – and therefore athletes – from the occupied territories of Ukraine. But a statement on Tuesday said that the war still prevents Ukrainian athletes from training for international competitions under the same conditions and that restrictions on Russian athletes should remain in place.
“Any claim that sports can be separated from politics is meaningless,” the statement reads.
The letter also calls for the removal of EU funding from the World Aquatics Organization and the International Gymnastics Federation, both of which have lifted their bans on Russian athletes.
