The FAU says the FIA risks undermining its rules by failing to act on Russia.
The Automobile Federation of Ukraine (FAU) has said that offices operated by Russia’s motorsport authority in occupied parts of Ukraine should prompt the FIA to take action against its Russian counterpart.
Article 3.3 of the FIA Statutes and Article 1.4.1 of the International Sporting Code state that each country has one recognised National Sporting Authority responsible for motorsport across its territory.
The Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) has reopened offices in Crimea, Sevastopol and occupied areas of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, which the FAU says are regions of sovereign Ukraine and are also recognised as such by the United Nations.
FAU President Oleksander Feldman has written to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem asking for sanctions against the RAF, adding that he has received no response to previous complaints.
“Such short-sighted and counterproductive inaction is unbecoming of representatives of a global governing body. The current situation could have catastrophic consequences for the FIA’s global standing,” Feldman wrote.
Ukraine has also raised the matter with the FIA Senate and Ethics Committee and taken a case to the governing body’s International Court of Appeal.
Ukraine warns of dangerous precedent
In his letter to Sulayem, Feldman wrote that failing to act could create a wider problem for the FIA by weakening the authority of its own rules.
“This is a dangerous precedent that paves the way for member organisations to disregard other provisions of the statutes and requirements of the rules, potentially leading to chaos and jeopardising the FIA’s future as an institution,” he wrote.
The FIA sits at the top of international four-wheel motorsport and relies on its national authorities to administer the sport and apply its regulations within their respective countries. Its International Sporting Code describes each National Sporting Authority as the sole holder of sporting power in that country.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 because it incorporated regional sports organisations from Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia that were under the authority of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee.
The IOC said at the time that the move breached the Olympic Charter by violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine’s Olympic body. However, the suspension was provisionally lifted in July as the IOC concluded that the regional organisations were no longer part of the Russian Olympic Committee and received assurances that it wouldn’t operate in those territories.
Russia restrictions continue to ease
The dispute comes as a growing number of sporting bodies soften measures introduced against Russia and Belarus following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, the FIA removed restrictions affecting Russian and Belarusian competitors, although events are still banned from being staged in either country. The FIA published its latest decision on 13 August following a World Motor Sport Council vote on 3 August.
FIBA has also reopened international competition to individual Russian and Belarusian players, coaches, referees and officials, though it continues to exclude national teams and clubs.
Many of those changes have followed the IOC’s July decision, which has become a reference point for federations reassessing restrictions.
Matvii Bidnyi, Ukraine’s Minister for Youth and Sport, previously warned that the reasons Russia faced sporting restrictions had not disappeared and urged governing bodies not to unravel measures introduced following the invasion.
