Committee on Youth and Sports Expressed Gratitude to Nine EU Member States For Their Principled Position on the IOC
15 July 2026, 17:23
Committee on Youth and Sports expresses gratitude to nine EU member states – Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Romania which appealed to the European Commission with the call to stop European financial funding of the International Olympic Committee in response to its decision on July 7 to lift restrictions on russian athletes and reinstate the russian Olympic Committee.
This step is a powerful testament to the fact that the democratic world is not ready to accept the return of aggressor state to the international sport movement while russia continues its aggressive war against Ukraine, killing civilians on a daily basis, destroying sports infrastructure, and depriving Ukrainian athletes of the right to a safe life and training.
The Committee on Youth and Sports consistently maintains the position that sports cannot exist outside of moral principles and international law. Allowing russia and belarus to return to full participation in international sports without halting the aggression and holding the perpetrators accountable contradicts the fundamental values of the Olympic movement – peace, respect, justice, and solidarity.
The Committee is convinced that the international sports community must remain united in defending these principles and prevent sports from being used as a tool to legitimize the aggressor state.
The Committee is grateful to its European partners for their principled stance, solidarity with Ukraine, and readiness to defend justice. It is precisely such collective actions that bring closer the day when international sports will finally be cleansed of the aggressor's policy, and Olympic values will once again hold true meaning.