The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) the exclusion of its athletes from this year’s European Youth Olympic Festivals, which will celebrate its winter edition from March 20 to 25 in Vuokatti (Finland). The exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes was decided by the Executive Committee of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) last day 2in line with the IOC decision, following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
As confirmed by the TAS this Friday, the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) calls for that decision to be annulled and for its athletes and officials to be able to participate in all competitions organized by the European Olympic Committees (EOC)including the 2022 Winter and Summer Youth Olympic Festivals under the same conditions as athletes from other National Olympic Committees. The CAS announced that it has initiated the arbitration procedurewhich includes the constitution of a panel of arbitrators, as well as that the parties are currently in the process of submitting written documents.
The Russian Committee has not requested the adoption of provisional measures and the timetable for the procedure will be established in a few days. The TAS also received the appeal of the Russian Football Federation FUR three days ago against the decisions taken on 28 February 2022 by the FIFA Council bureau and the UEFA Executive Committee of suspend all Russian teams and clubs from participating in their respective competitions until further notice.