MOSCOW, Mar 21 Suspension of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) in the absence of criteria to restore membership in the International Biathlon Union (IBU) is an illogical and legally unjustified situation, said RBU President Viktor Maigurov in a video posted on the organization's official YouTube channel. by virtue of. The suspension will be subject to regular review by the Executive Board and will last until the next IBU Congress in September 2022. Both national federations have seven days to react. After this period, the executive committee will make a final decision on the suspension of membership.
"Actually, the meaning of the IBU letter and what answer they want to receive was not entirely clear to us either. Literally, the IBU says that the RRF is responsible for all those decisions that are made in the Russian Federation, regardless of what these decisions may be. In my understanding, we, as a public organization, must be responsible for our actions, and if we are deprived of membership for something, we must speak up for what. When restoring our temporary membership, there are clear criteria: what depends on us, and if there is a deprivation of membership and there are no criteria that depend on us, then I think this is an absolutely illogical situation that is not legally based on anything", Maigurov said.
Earlier, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recommended that international sports federations not allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete due to the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine. After that, the IBU suspended the Russian athletes from participating in the competition. The RBU said they would defend the rights of athletes in court.