Russia condemned the exclusion of Russian fencers with military rank

Russia on Thursday condemned the decision of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) to prevent some decorated Russian fencers from participating in international competitions for having military rank.

“The best athletes from other countries also belong to the Armed Forces,” Ilgar Mamedov, president of the Russian Fencing Federation (FER), told the RIA Novosti agency.

He emphasized that several Russian fencers received authorization to compete, but they were unknown and not the leaders of the Russian national team.

After a year of sanctions, in March the FIE announced its decision to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete in international tournaments as neutrals on the recommendation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Of course, the IOC has qualified that athletes with some connection to the Army or security forces cannot participate in international competitions.

That’s the case of six excluded Russian fencers, including world and Olympic champions Sofia Velíkaya, Yana Egorián and Sofia Lojanova, daughter of the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (COR), Stanislav Pozdniakov.

Exactly, Pozdniakov, also an Olympic fencing champion, claimed to have spoken to the fencers, who categorically rejected the restrictions imposed on them by the COR.

“The position is one. Our fencers will only participate if they have the right to athletes from other countries,” Pozdniakov said.

The Kremlin also today rejected the exclusion of Russian fencers and described the criteria used by the IOC as “political”.

Recently, the Ukrainian Fencing Federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne the FIE’s decision to re-admit Russian and Belarusian athletes to their competitions.

Although as neutrals, Russian athletes can now compete in the nine Olympic modalities of the Paris 2024 Games.