Ukraine continues to oppose the FIA’s decision to lift the ban on Russian and Belarusian participants in motorsport. The Ukrainian Automobile Federation (FAU) has appealed to the FIA Court of Appeal, the highest legal body within the motorsport federation. This happened three days after the FAU had already requested an urgent investigation by the FIA’s ethics committee.
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On August 3, the FIA decided to lift restrictions on Russian and Belarusian drivers, teams, officials, and other participants. The ban had been in place since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was adjusted after the International Olympic Committee made a similar decision. A ban on organizing international motorsport events in Russia and Belarus remains in place.
The FAU bases its appeal partly on the activities of the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian federation, the RAF has opened offices and carried out activities in Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. These areas are recognized by the United Nations as Ukrainian territory. The FAU states that the RAF is thus acting in violation of the FIA statutes and the international sports code, which allows only one national automobile club per country.
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Drones and rockets
FAU chairman Oleksandr Feldman calls it a serious violation and points out that the war has also severely affected Ukrainian motorsport. “This is a clear violation of the FIA statutes and the International Sports Code by the Russian Automobile Federation, which, like every FIA member organization, is obliged to comply with them,” Feldman said in a statement. “You cannot become the reigning national sports authority through drones and rockets. We urge the FIA to take urgent action to put an end to these violations and to sanction the Russian Automobile Federation for its actions.”
According to the FAU, since the Russian invasion, 23 Ukrainian motorsport participants and officials have died, and motorsport in the country has been severely disrupted. The federation has announced it will use all available legal means to challenge the FIA decision.
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