Ukraine Motorsport Federation Seeks FIA Sanctions Against Russia

Ukraine’s national motorsport authority has asked FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to impose sanctions on the Russian Automobile Federation, escalating a dispute over Russian motorsport activity in occupied Ukrainian territory. BBC Sport reported that the Automobile Federation of Ukraine, known as the FAU, says its Russian counterpart has opened offices in Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Those locations are in territory recognized by the United Nations as sovereign Ukrainian land. The FAU argues that the Russian federation’s presence there conflicts with FIA rules, which permit only one automobile club or national sporting authority to represent each country. Its latest appeal follows previous approaches to the FIA’s senate and ethics committee.

In a statement reported by the BBC, the FAU said it was outraged by what it described as prolonged inaction by motorsport’s global governing body. It said its earlier complaints had received neither a reaction nor a reply. The Ukrainian organization has also filed a case with the FIA’s international court of appeal.

FAU president Oleksander Feldman has written directly to Ben Sulayem demanding three steps: suspension of Russia’s FIA membership, the return of strict restrictions on Russian athletes in international events, and a public FIA declaration rejecting what the letter calls the forcible redistribution of sporting authority. Feldman warned that failing to enforce the governing body’s rules could damage its global standing and create a precedent for other member organizations.

The dispute has intensified since the FIA World Motor Sport Council lifted its ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors on August 3. The restrictions had been imposed in February 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The FIA’s move followed the International Olympic Committee ending its own ban, although other governing bodies, including World Athletics, have not taken the same course.

The FIA had been contacted for comment, according to the BBC report. In a statement to the broadcaster the previous week, the Russian Embassy in London argued that excluding Russian athletes amounted to nationality-based segregation and welcomed the FIA’s decision as a move away from political bias. The sanctions sought by the FAU had not been announced at the time of publication.