29 September 2025 To the kind attention of:
# 555-НК/10314/10 Ministers responsible for Sport of
M European countries
r
J Presidents of the European National
e Olympic Committees
a
n
Dear Ministers, -
Dear Presidents, C
h
r
First of all, we would like to express our sincere gratitude for your unwavering support
i
of Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and Ukrainian sport community during these
exceptionally challenging times in our nation’s
s history. Your solidarity gives us
strength and once again reaffirms Europe’stunity in defending the fundamental values
of peace, democracy, and human rights. o
p
For the fourth year, Europe is witnessing the h bloodiest war on the continent in the last
75 years, started and relentlessly continuedeby the Russian Federation with the support
of Belarus.
R
o
Unfortunately, Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine continues to inflict
devastating consequences on every aspect l of life, including sport. Hundreds of
l
Ukrainian athletes have been killed while defending their country, and more than 700
a damaged by Russian strikes. These are
sports facilities have been destroyed or severely
n
irretrievable losses, serving as a painful reminder that Ukrainian sport is paying a heavy
price for peace and freedom. d
P
In this context, we would like to express our deep concern about the inclusion of citizens
of the Russian Federation and the Republicr of Belarus to the list of candidates for the
e
elections to the governing bodies of the European Gymnastics at the upcoming Assembly
s
in November this year, namely: Marat Filippov, representing the Gymnastics
Federation of Russia, and Andrey Fedarau, irepresenting the Gymnastics Association of
Belarus. d
e
n
Marat Filippov is the Secretary of the Council under the President of the Russian
Federation on the development of physical culture and sport and Vice-President of the
Russian Olympic Committee. He took part in the ceremony of awarding the Russian
military with the «Heroes of Our Time» sports award in 2025, with a congratulatory
speech from dictator Putin
(https://x.com/ukrsportbase/status/1971250182185791747?s=46).
On October, 12, 2023, the IOC Executive Board decided to suspend Russian Olympic
Committee – where Marat Filippov serves as the Vice-president – with immediate effect
(https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-executive-board-suspends-russian-olympic-
committee-with-immediate-effect), due to unilateral decision taken by the ROC to
include, as its members, the regional sports organisations which are under the authority
of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson,
Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia).
It is evident that the aggressor states continue to use sport as a propaganda tool to
legitimize their unjustified war and manipulate international opinion. The participation
of representatives of aggressor states in the governing bodies of international sports
federations during wartime is an ignorance of the moral and ethical principles of sport
and the Olympic Charter.
In this regard, we would like to ask you to urge the national gymnastics federations of
your countries to pay attention to these candidates and support Ukraine’s position that
it is unacceptable to support the candidates from Russia and Belarus in these elections.
Such support would mean ignoring the suffering of Ukrainian athletes and at the same
time undermine the foundations of integrity and fairness in sport.
We rely on your solidarity and strong position and believe that together we can preserve
the values that unite us and protect sport from being used as an aggression tool.
Sincerely,
Matvii BIDNYI
Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine
Vadym GUTTSAIT
President of the NOC of Ukraine
Saatja: "Іванов Дмитро Петрович" <
[email protected]>
Saaja: "KUM min"
Teema: Joint Letter from the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine
Kuupäev: 2025-10-02 14:38
Dear colleagues,
Please find attached a joint letter signed by the Minister of Youth and
Sports of Ukraine, Mr. Matvii Bidnyi, and the President of the National
Olympic Committee of Ukraine, Mr. Vadym Guttsait.
We kindly invite your attention to the content of this communication and
would greatly appreciate your consideration.
Best regards,
Department of International Cooperation
and European Integration
Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine