The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on 7 July to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and withdraw all recommended restrictions on Russian and Belarusian athletes, clearing the way for their return to international competition under national flags and anthems. The move, which reverses measures adopted after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompted a group of nine European Union member states to propose cutting EU funding for the IOC and other sports federations that readmit competitors from the two countries.

Estonia initiated the joint letter to European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef, with the Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Romania, Finland and Denmark signing on. The nine governments call for the IOC, the International Fencing Federation and the International Swimming Federation, among others, to be excluded from EU funding programmes including Erasmus+. They also propose limiting these organisations’ participation in EU-level discussions and events on sports development. The letter, as quoted by Estonian public broadcaster ERR, states that while fully respecting the autonomy of sports bodies, the signatories expect international structures to uphold human rights, the rule of law and peaceful relations between states, and to prevent sport from being used for political purposes by Russia and Belarus. France’s sports minister has voiced support for the initiative and suggested placing it on the EU agenda, signalling that the coalition could widen.

The IOC’s decision creates immediate consequences for Ukrainian athletes, who now face the prospect of competing against representatives of a state they accuse of waging war on their country. Ukrainian officials and athletes are exploring countermeasures, including lobbying host nations to deny visas to Russian competitors, according to Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych. The IOC has described the restoration of the Russian Olympic Committee as temporary and conditional, and has deferred a final ruling on the use of the Russian flag and anthem at its own events to a later date. The committee had suspended the Russian body in October 2023 after it incorporated sports councils from four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Russian forces, a step the IOC said violated the Olympic Charter. A revised charter submitted by Moscow in March 2025 was accepted as compliant.

The nine-state proposal tests the limits of EU leverage over autonomous global sports governance. The IOC’s shifting stance since 2022—from recommending blanket exclusion to allowing neutral individual participation and now full reinstatement—has drawn sharp criticism from Nordic and Baltic capitals, while some other member states have been more cautious. The European Commission has not yet responded to the letter, and no formal vote is scheduled, but the issue is expected to feature at the next meeting of EU sports ministers.