Due to invitations have been received by European Chess federations and ECU to participate in the “Summer Friendship Games” to be organised in Russia in September 2024, the European Chess Union (ECU) hereby informs the National Chess federations about its position.
ECU considers itself as a committed partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and European Olympic Committees (EOC). IOC has made clear its position about the organisation of “Friendship Games” in Russia. We highlight some parts, and we link the whole declaration by IOC:
“The IOC notes that, contrary to the Fundamental Principles of the Olympic Charter and the resolutions by the UN General Assembly, the Russian government intends to organise purely politically motivated sports events in Russia. The Russian government created and funded the “International Friendship Association” (IFA), in order to host the summer and winter “Friendship Games”.”
“The Olympic Movement strongly condemns any initiative to fully politicise sport, in particular the establishment of fully politicised sports events by the Russian government. The IOC strongly urges all stakeholders of the Olympic Movement and all governments to reject any participation in, and support of, any initiative that intends to fully politicise international sport.”
Read the whole declaration by IOC: https://olympics.com/ioc/news/declaration-by-the-ioc-against-the-politicisation-of-sport
Additionally, IOC has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) by its decision on 12 October 2023: “IOC Executive Board suspends Russian Olympic Committee with immediate effect” The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 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) constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter because it violates the territorial integrity of the NOC of Ukraine, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in accordance with the Olympic Charter.”
Russian Olympic Committee appealed this decision to the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) that issued its decision on 23rd February 2024 (released by CAS at the end of March) rejecting the appeal by ROC and confirming the IOC decision: https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Award_10093.pdf
Due to all the above reasons:
European Chess Union strongly advises all European chess federations and players to reject any participation or support in the “Friendship Games” organised in Russia.
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