Russia is fighting for the match with Poland in the Court. What are the chances?

The list of Russian unions and organizations that have been hit for aggression against Ukraine and have been excluded from the world of sport is long. The Russians were deprived of the opportunity to start from several dozen federations, including volleyball, basketball, sailing, skiing, hockey, skating, badminton, and athletics federations – it can be exchanged for a long time. The list of federations that banned Russians from starting also includes its European counterpart (UEFA).

In several federations, players from Russia can still compete, although not under their flag and not on their own soil (because practically everyone has canceled the competition in Russia). Fans from the country of Vladimir Putin will see Formula 1 tracks or judo mats. The Paralympic Games are being held in Beijing without the Russians and Belarusians. It was the International Olympic Committee who recommended that the world federations expel them from the world of sport, or at least seize their national colors.

The Russians broke the UN resolution and the Olympic Charter

The IOC issued such an appeal on February 28. Earlier, that is, on the first day of Russia’s invasion, he “condemned the Russian government breaking the Olympic ceasefire”. A day later, on February 25, he called on all federations to postpone or cancel planned sports events in Russia, and he also referred to their violation of the UN General Assembly resolution of December 2, 2021, which approved the Olympic truce. This was to apply from January 25th and last until March 27th (one week before the start of the Beijing Olympic Committee and one week after the end of the Paralympic Games).

Signed by 193 countries (including Russia), the resolution is entitled: “Promoting peace and building a happier world through sport and the Olympic ideal.” This is a document that says, among other things that all sports officials and people working at this event must have safe access to it. In a word – when there are games, you have to behave well, not exert political pressure, and not use aggression. Russia broke this resolution, right after the most prestigious event.

Interesting is the thesis of the South China Morning Post that the Olympics made it possible to postpone the invasions of Ukraine a bit. Journalists of this newspaper – citing sources in the White House – said that the Chinese were aware of Putin’s plans. They had to know them since his visit to Beijing (the Russian president was at the opening of the games). The hosts of the event were to ask for the suspension of military action until the end of the competition. And although China denied this information, the facts are that the Beijing Olympics ended on February 20, and a day later Putin announced his decision to recognize the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas and send his troops there. The aggression began on February 24. A similar pattern was observed with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, which began a few days after the end of the ZIO in Sochi, Russia.

“An unusual situation that eludes the conventional view of FIFA statutes”

Coming back to penalties. The IOC in its communication. He noted that as a result of the invasion, Ukrainians cannot compete in competitions, and the Russians and Belarusians would not have any problems with that. This has been called “a dilemma that cannot be solved”, but an attempt was made to resolve the matter with sanctions. This can be read as an attempt to find justice or balance. The communiqué also said about the need to “protect the integrity of world sports competitions and the safety of all its participants”. Perhaps this is the result of the fact that with the Russians all competitions would be boycotted or there would be tensions.

Apart from the UN resolutions, the Russians can also be accused of violating the Olympic Charter. In the document, over 100 pages long, we can find points that they violated by military invasion. “Sport serves harmonious human development, with a vision of promoting a peace-loving society and respect for human dignity,” we read. If someone does not respect the rules of the Olympic Charter, he can be excluded from the Games or the Olympic Movement. But the important question is who and how these sanctions may apply. As for the Olympic Movement, these apply to the NOCs, not the athletes themselves.

– All actions taken by the IOC and FIFA are based on the general principles of sport, promoting peace and sports competition as a way of noble, bloodless competition – tells us Jakub Laskowski – partner of LAS Legal, director of legal affairs and sports administration of Legia Warsaw, arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne (CAS).

– This is an unusual situation that eludes the conventional view of the FIFA or UEFA statutes. Nevertheless, the Arbitration Tribunal for Sport in Lausanne, in the event that the Russian Football Association receives appeals against the decisions of international federations, will have to consider the appeals also in the context of legal regulations, and not the principles of equity and justice. Already in art. 3 of the FIFA Statute, it is indicated that human rights and their protection are the tasks of FIFA. So there is a legal framework for FIFA’s decision to suspend the Russian football federation. A more complex case is the UEFA decision to throw Russian clubs, ie Spartak Moscow, out of the club competition. They may argue that they are privately owned, are not related to the Russian state, or oligarchs or companies subject to international sanctions, and that they suffer severe consequences of the current geopolitical situation, Laskowski predicts.

Russia like Yugoslavia and South Africa

There have been several cases of people being thrown out of sport in history, although each case was different. During World War I, five countries recognized as aggressors (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey) were excluded from the IO 1920. Germany and Japan had nothing to think about the 1948 Olympics – the first after World War II. In 1962 South Africa was banned from the Tokyo event for the government’s racist policy towards black citizens. The exclusion lasted for almost 30 years.

In 1992. In 2000, Afghanistan was not allowed to participate in the games due to gender discrimination by the Taliban. In 2016, Russian athletes and weightlifters were suspended from the Olympics for doping, and in 2018 many Russians were not invited to Pyongchang. Athletes from the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) competed in Tokyo (2021) and Beijing (2022).

In the context of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it is worth remembering the case of Yugoslavia. In 1992, the latter country was excluded from the football Euro several days before the start of the event, when the athletes arrived in Sweden. Perhaps the impetus for this was the massacre in Vase Miskina Street, where during the ceasefire, civilians were shot at shopping (26 people were killed). It was then that the UN Security Council issued Resolution 757, which required all countries to exclude Yugoslavia from all tournaments. UEFA, by changing the composition of that Euro, had a strong washer. This did not save its then-president Lennart Johansson from the anger of fans, possibly from the Balkans, who fired a machine gun at his house.

Documents of international organizations could also be supported in the case of South Africa or Germany (International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, UN). Taking into account that the permanent members of the UN Security Council are China, Russia, the USA, France and the United Kingdom, there is no point in counting on groundbreaking resolutions of this body at present. The IOC and the sports federations took matters into their own hands and for the first time in history imposed sanctions on a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Sanctions that almost the whole world approves, but probably the Russians will ask to explain them in paragraphs.

– It is difficult for sports federations to remain passive when people are dying and human rights are being tampered with, which is against the international legal system. I think FIFA took some time to make its decision, because it was widely consulted not only politically, but also legally and considered in the context of its possible consequences – Laskowski assesses. The lawyer adds that the usually conservative FIFA rather knows what it is doing.

“Seems it will all take years”

The question of the extent to which international federations are dependent on the IOC is also interesting. To what extent should they or must they fulfill his recommendations? After all, they have their own statutes and regulations. This question was asked by one of the Russian sports portals. He pointed out that most of the unions issued their decisions after February 28, i.e. after the categorical announcement. Some even referred to him.

According to the Olympic Charter, the IOC and the IFs (along with the National Olympic Committees) are at the heart of the Olympic Movement. The IOC has the authority to recognize the status of IFs and directs the entire Olympic Movement. Moreover, the documents and functioning of these federations must conform to the Olympic Charter. This shows that the federations, although autonomous in their decisions, are not detached from the IOC.

The coming months will probably show how the IOC, international federations and unions will defend the regulations concerning Russians through the prism of the paragraphs. There is no doubt that in our part of Europe they were the right decisions. On the other hand, each day of delay in their announcement was interpreted as acceptance of Putin’s waging war. And so it seems that previously sports officials turned a blind eye to many of Russia’s sins, from the annexation of Crimea to the Olympic doping scandal in Sochi and the attempt to further cover it up. Now you cannot close your eyes anymore, because the darkness is greatly disturbed by the outbreaks of war.

“The government’s policy came into direct conflict with the possibility of participating in global sport” – Sports.ru journalists seem to notice the problem.