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.