GENEVA, June 4. /TASS/. The International Fencing Union (FIE) has granted the right to participate neutrally to 18 Russian athletes at union-sanctioned international events, the FIE press office said in a statement on Wednesday.
The neutral-status permissions were granted to Vitalina Anashchenkova (foil), Yegor Balok, Matvey Biryukov, Veronika Bulukova, Alexander Ivannikov, Polina Kalinina, Mikhail Khlebnikov, Alina Korolyova, Gleb Yuzhakov, Zlata Shaposhnikova (sabre), Mikhail Belozerov, Pavel Buzinov, Maria Dolgopolova, Anna Gzyunova, Lina Kashentseva, Sofia Koroyeva, Kirill Onishchuk and Rostislav Rustamov (epee).
Fencers representing Russia would be able to participate in competitions at the 2025 FIE European Championship between June 14 and 19 in Italy’s Genoa and the 2025 FIE World Championship in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi between July 22 and 30.
The national fencing teams of Russian athletes were cleared to take part in the tournaments as neutral athletes flying the colors of the official FIE flag.
In March 2024, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international competitions under a neutral status and in line with recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
At its session in January 2023, the IOC Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Athletes from the countries in question should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.
The FIE followed the IOC’s recommendations and did not issue neutral status permits to Russian fencers representing top Russian sports franchises CSKA and Dinamo.
IOC sanctions against Russia, Belarus
On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to prohibit athletes from Russia and Belarus from participating in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.
Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.
In late March, 2023, the IOC recommended allowing individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports tournaments, but only under specific conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.
On October 12, 2023, the IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) until further notice after the Russian organization included the Olympic councils of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions as its members.