Ukraine files lawsuit at CAS against IOC over lifting of Russian Olympic Committee suspension

Ukraine is taking legal action against the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following the provisional lifting of the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC). Ukraine's Sports Minister, Matwij Bidny (46), announced on LinkedIn that he would file a lawsuit with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Background

In early July, the IOC decided to largely lift sanctions against Russian athletes with a view to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The IOC had originally imposed measures against Russia after determining that the ROC had violated the Olympic Charter. The accusation: the Russian committee had incorporated the four annexed Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.

However, Russia's Olympic Committee challenged this justification from a sports law perspective. From the IOC's point of view, the legal basis for a suspension has now been removed.

"The IOC Decision Is Premature"

Ukraine's sports minister strongly disagrees with this assessment. Bidny called the IOC decision premature, stating that Russia has integrated Ukrainian sports organizations into its own structure. Although Russia has changed the structure of its Olympic Committee, it has not given up its claims to Ukrainian territory. Since February 24, 2022, Russia has been waging a brutal war of aggression against the whole of Ukraine.

Russia Also Pursues Legal Action

Russia has also turned to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, filing a lawsuit against World Athletics. Regardless of the IOC decision, World Athletics maintains the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions.

World Athletics had already suspended Russia in November 2015 due to systematic doping and has since only granted individual athletes the right to compete as neutral athletes.