F1 News: FIA under fire for controversial Russia decision

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FIA News

FIA under fire for controversial Russia decision

A decision destined to split people...

Chris Deeley

Thursday 20 August 2026 10:57

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The Ukrainian government has written to the FIA - F1's governing body - to protest the decision to lift its ban on Russian competitors.

The ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors in international motorsport events had been put in place by the FIA in February 2022 in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

BBC Sport report that a statement from the head of the Ukrainian automobile federation (FAU) claimed that the Minister of Youth and Sports has written to Mohammed Ben Sulayem about the decision to lift the ban, announced last week.

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The BBC also report that the choice to lift the sanctions was made 'at the behest of Ben Sulayem'.

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FAU statement on FIA lifting Russia ban

The federation statement read: "The minister sent a letter to the president of the FIA and the FIA World Motor Sport Council requesting that the decision concerning the aforementioned lifting of sanctions be reconsidered."

It continued: "Although this decision is consistent with the latest decisions of the International Olympic Committee, in the global motorsport system it may, in practice, have a counterproductive effect, first and foremost in the context of ensuring the integrity of competitions.

"As a result of the full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation with the assistance of the Republic of Belarus, Ukrainian motorsport has suffered significant losses, with a large number of our motorsport competitors having been killed during this war, and that such circumstances simply cannot be disregarded when considering decisions of this nature."

FIA statement on Russia and Belarus ban being overturned

"The FIA has updated the requirements for Russian and Belarusian drivers, national teams, competitors and officials following a vote by the World Motor Sport Council.

"This follows an announcement by the IOC on 7 July and similar updates issued by other international sporting federations.

"The FIA maintains its ban on organising events and competitions in Russia and Belarus. The FIA continues to monitor the situation closely in Ukraine and reserves the right to update its position in the future."

Russian racing president 'grateful' for lifting of ban

Russian automobile federation (RAF) president Boris Romanovich Rotenberg, a billionaire and close associate of Vladimir Putin who is personally on UK and US sanction lists, also released a statement welcoming the ban being overturned.

"Behind this decision is the huge diplomatic work of the RAF. We have always maintained a professional dialogue with our colleagues from the FIA, firmly defending the interests of our country.

"Sport and culture should be outside of politics – they unite peoples. Justice has triumphed. We are grateful to the International Automobile Federation for the constructive dialogue and are ready to jointly solve all pressing issues.

"Full restoration of the membership of the Russian Automobile Federation in the FIA is the most important step that returns Russia to the process of making key decisions in world motorsport."

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F1 FIA Mohammed Ben Sulayem