Ukraine's motorsport federation files ethics complaint against Russian body over FIA ban lifting
Ukraine's motorsport federation has filed a formal complaint with the FIA's ethics committee, demanding an urgent investigation into the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) just weeks after the sport's global governing body lifted a ban on Russian and Belarusian competitors.
The Ukrainian Automobile Federation (FAU) is asking the ethics committee to find the RAF in breach of FIA statutes and to order the immediate closure of offices the Russian body has reportedly opened in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory — including Crimea, Sevastopol, and the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, all of which the United Nations recognises as sovereign Ukrainian land BBC Sport.
The ban on individuals from Russia and Belarus competing in international motorsport had been in place since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The FIA's world council — the body that sets the sport's rules — lifted it recently, with sources telling BBC Sport the proposal came from FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem. The decision followed a similar move by the International Olympic Committee to readmit Russian and Belarusian athletes BBC Sport.
At the heart of Ukraine's complaint is a rules question. The FIA statutes and international sporting code permit only one automobile club per country. The FAU says the RAF's offices in occupied Ukrainian regions amount to a second, unauthorised presence on another nation's territory — a direct breach of that principle. FAU president Oleksandr Feldman has urged ben Sulayem to take urgent action to shut those offices down and to sanction the RAF BBC Sport.
The complaint also highlights the status of RAF head Boris Rotenberg, who is personally subject to international sanctions imposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and other allied jurisdictions in response to the aggression against Ukraine BBC Sport.
Ukraine's government has separately written to the FIA asking it to reverse the decision to lift the ban BBC Sport. The FIA previously defended its quiet reinstatement of a sanctioned Russian member to its World Motor Sport Council in October 2025 Reuters.
The path the FAU's complaint now travels may not be a straightforward one. Following changes to the FIA statutes last year, the ethics committee falls under the control of FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem and his ally, FIA senate president Carmello Sanz de Barros — meaning the officials whose proposal lifted the ban also oversee the body now being asked to investigate the consequences BBC Sport.
For the wider motorsport community — from Formula 1 down to grassroots national series — the dispute reaches into a question that goes beyond lap times and championship points: who gets to compete, under whose flag, and whether the rules that govern the sport apply equally to every federation on the grid.
